


Logan's Run

by Ultra



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Apologies, Day At The Beach, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friendship, Lies, On the Run, Road Trips, Secrets, Sex, Vacation, based on a movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-14
Updated: 2011-03-14
Packaged: 2019-08-26 02:57:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 41,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16673419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: AU. Logan Echolls is tired of his rich and very lonely life, but his over-protective parents don't want him out in the real world alone. Enter new friend Veronica, who may just be Logan's ticket out of boredomville, but is she really all she seems?





	1. Chapter 1

Life of the rich and famous wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and Logan Echolls knew that better than anyone. It was fine for his parents, they chose this life, lived for their acting careers, and the fame and money that came along with it were just bonuses for the pair that wanted everything and therefore got it. The world Logan had been born into was no more his choice than anything else in his life had ever been, and it was starting to drive him crazy.

At just eighteen years old, Logan knew little or nothing of the real world. Sure, he had every video game he could want, closets full of all kinds of designer clothes, the latest in everything, plus servants to clean up after him and ensure he was never wanting. Unfortunately, they couldn’t give him what he really craved, and that was simply freedom.

Poor little rich boy, that’s what people would say if they knew of his thoughts. The kid has everything, more freedom than anybody else. That’s what they thought, but they had no idea how caged he really was. Every potential friend was just another gold digger, any girl who showed an interest would either end up falling all over his father the moment his back was turned, or just dating him long enough to get jewellery or something juicy for a magazine story. Logan hated all of it, and spent most of his time alone in his room, knowing at least there no-one was playing him for cash or fame of their own.

This night was much the same as any other. Logan had his X-Box hooked up and was thrashing six other teens around the world at the latest games. At least online he could lie about who he was, use a fake username and enjoy the easy company of other people who were probably hiding from their lives too. Of course, it wasn’t the same, but it was the best he could do.

Mom and Dad were out at some awards dinner or something, Logan couldn’t be bothered to care, and was only really staying up so late so his sleep wouldn’t be disturbed by his parents pouring themselves into bed in the early hours. He didn’t go to those functions, it really wasn’t permitted. His father, Aaron, didn’t trust him not to make a scene, and besides, they had this whole thing about him not being too well known for fear of his safety and such being compromised. Logan had pointed out that made no sense, since in the very next breath he was being prohibited from leaving the house alone for fear someone would recognise him. How the hell did that make sense?

The finish line appeared just ahead of him on the screen, and Logan pushed the buttons on the console, sending him careering across in first place. Winning so often was getting boring, but video games were one thing he could do in his solitary confinement, interacting with those around the world, without them ever knowing who he was. This activity became a ritual, and that ritual started to wear thin after years and years. As a kid, he’d loved it, as a young adult he craved so much more.

Throwing the controls to the floor with a loud thud, Logan half considered, pulling the whole console free and just hurling it out of the window in frustration. It was more than his life was worth to actually do it. The splash as the electric box hit the pool below would alert attention, but not the kind he wanted. Besides, if the servants were taking a sneaky swim he’d probably kill them, and even Logan knew that was wrong.

Diving backwards onto his over-sized bed, Logan lay there with his hands behind his head, staring long and hard at the ceiling. Everywhere he turned there were walls. People would hate him and call him ungrateful if they knew what he thought, but honestly he’d welcome it, just to have these other people to talk to! He wanted out, in any way possible. Sure, money was great and all, but he was not allowed to enjoy the wealth or fame he had inherited.

With a sigh he turned on his side, eyes catching on the half open drawer and the papers sticking out of it. The edge of something bright red made him want to smile and yet scream with frustration at the same time. He had a concert ticket, one that was almost impossible to get, but he’d managed it. For a change it was not because he had cash or privilege, but because he was lucky. Logan had heard the competition on the radio one morning, first caller to phone in and answer three questions about the band, won two free tickets and back stage passes to the LA concert on the sell-out tour. It was like a dream come true, and Logan had been so thrilled to know he’d won. Immediately he mentioned any of this to his parents, the smile faded and the joy turned to sadness and anger. Aaron and Lynn had forbidden their son to attend the concert or to ever call another radio contest again in his life. He had enough already, he didn’t need to win things meant for what his father liked to call ‘the less fortunate’. It made the ordinary people sound like peasants on the street, when in reality they were the people that Logan wanted to be amongst. He wanted to make friends who liked him for him and not his cash, date girls that would just find him attractive and funny and sweet, not just want to sleep with him so they had a ‘famous person’ story to tell their friends later on.

Logan had thought about this a million times, in spite of the fact it was pointless. He was never going to have a normal life, not ever, and he was starting to get resigned to the fact, however crazy-making the concept was. Getting up off the bed, he crossed to the window and stared out from what felt like his prison, a gilded cage some might say. Poor little rich boy, that’s all the world would see if he told them how he felt, all his parents would see too. They didn’t care about him all that much, they couldn’t, or they would’ve been around today. After all, it was his birthday.

_...The Next Morning..._

“Good morning, Dad!” Logan called, too loudly, as he swept into the main living room.

“Logan, please,” Aaron begged of him, holding his head in his hand as two aspirin were popped into his hand by a butler.

“Sweetheart, last night was very stressful for your father and me,” explained Lynn, looking to be suffering in similar fashion to her husband, though dark glasses hid her heavy eyes and she looked a little less green around the gills somehow.

“Right,” said Logan sharply as he stood before them. “Yeah, yesterday was a rough day, I get it,” he agreed with a nod of his head. “I mean, I know I could’ve had a better time,” he told them, sure they weren’t listening yet but determined they would be in a moment. “God knows I do love having my birthday completely forgotten and ignored!” he said, deliberately too loudly.

He watched his father turn his way with wide eyes, his mother dropping her sunglasses down some so she could better see her son and husband both.

“Yeah, that was yesterday,” Logan confirmed when his parents continued to stare, first at him, then at each other, with apparent shock and disbelief. “Don’t worry, it was only my eighteenth not as if it was a huge milestone or anything. Still, a card would’ve been nice,” he said cuttingly, turning on his heel then and leaving just as fast as he’d come in, slamming the door as he left the room and making both his parents wince terribly.

It was ridiculously childish behaviour, and Logan knew it, but if they were going to treat him like a kid he may as well behave like one. He made it to the bottom of the staircase that led up to his room when the door he had just slammed a moment go opened and his mother crept out.

“Sweetheart, we’re so sorry,” she said, even going so far as to remove her sunglasses when she looked his way.

“I know,” replied Logan, looking back over his shoulder at her, “but honestly? Doesn’t change much,” he told her with a shake of his head, before taking the steps two at a time up to his room.

_...Later..._

Another long day spent alone, Logan Echolls was getting used to them, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed a single one. He had hoped that yesterday might prove a little different, being as it was his birthday and all, but apparently not. He had tried the guilt trip on his parents, but a vague sorry from his mother was all there had been so far. Imagine his surprise when suddenly he heard voices beyond his door, and then an envelope appeared underneath bearing his name.

With a slight frown, Logan paused his computer game and went over to see what this was all about. A birthday card meant for a much younger boy than himself was inside the envelope, but that didn’t matter much to Logan when he found his real present.

“You’re kidding? This is a bad joke, right?” he asked loudly as he yanked open the door and found his now less-hungover parents on the other side.

“No joke, son,” insisted his father with a smile that was almost genuine. “It was unforgivable of us to miss your birthday, and your mother and I know how much you crave a little freedom so...”

“Tickets to a premiere? Two tickets?” he gasped again at the sight of the items in his hand. “You never let me go anywhere, with anyone,” he pointlessly stated the obvious.

“Well, you’re older now, Logan, and I’m sure we can trust you to be careful,” his mother said kindly, dropping a bomb on the whole thing a moment later when she added. “And you know I’m sure Richard Casablancas’ son would love to go with you.”

Logan’s face dropped at the sound of those words. This was a set-up dressed up as a special gift and he ought to have known it. Finally he was allowed to attend an event the like of which he never got a chance to experience, but as usual there was a catch. It wasn’t that Logan minded taking a friend along for the ride, and Dick was an okay guy. Of course, he knew better than to think his parents were just trying to help him and the son of a wealthy business be better friends. They wanted to score points, they wanted a friend in the big real estate magnate, and they were quite happy to use their son to do it. Still, Logan was not about to argue with this deal, not that he was done brokering it yet.

“Okay.” He nodded once. “I’ll take Dick to the premiere, play nice, not make a scene,” he promised, waving his tickets around, “but I do not want security guards at every corner and doorway breathing down my neck,” he said definitely, giving both his mom and dad a serious look.

Neither Lynn nor Aaron looked convinced, that much was obvious from the way they looked at each other then. Of course, the movie theatre would have plenty of security itself, and Logan wasn’t all that well known to get mobbed or anything.

“Two bodyguards that stay close at all times,” said Aaron definitely. “Take it or leave it.”

“Which guys?” his son wanted to know before he agreed to anything.

“Whichever Keith says are his best shots.” He shrugged, referring to the head of security he trusted with the lives of himself and his family.

“Fair enough,” agreed Logan, holding out his hand for his father to shake. “We have a deal.”

_...The Next Night..._

“Dude, this is like so awesome!” enthused Dick as he and Logan rode in the limo towards the glitzy premiere of the long-awaited Avatar sequel.

“Yeah,” agreed his so-called friend, though honestly the whole evening wasn’t quite as he would’ve liked it.

A date of the female variety would’ve been cooler, but hell, at least he’d been let out of the house, and the watchful eye of Daddy Dearest wasn’t so much watchful at this range. Only two security guards were flanking him and Dick tonight. Sachs looked alert as ever in the seat opposite, whilst D’Amato looked relaxed and cool as he always did. They were good guys, good at their jobs and all, Logan knew that. They were to be personal protection for himself and Dick tonight, the only guys looking over his shoulder, which did please Logan. He got his own way with his father for a change, and he was out of the house, seeing something new - things were definitely looking up.

Unfortunately, it was almost inevitable that things would not run smoothly, and the moment he stepped out of the limo onto the red carpet, Logan knew it...

_...Fifteen Minutes Later..._

“It’s no big deal, Dad,” sighed Veronica, holding the cell phone firmly to her ear. “It’s just a jam thanks to the glitzy little premiere down the street,” she explained the traffic crisis she was currently trapped in. “Worst case scenario, you’ll see me tomorrow morning instead of tonight is all.”

“I feel terrible, Veronica,” he apologised in her ear. “I should’ve called and warned you about that, it’s not like I didn’t know.”

“Dad, please,” she urged him. “Don’t stress on it, I’m fine. The traffic will clear soon and it’ll all be good,” she promised him.

“I don’t like you out there in the dark alone,” he told her, as much the perfect caring father now as he had been when she was a little girl.

Now she was twenty-one and a qualified Private Investigator. Little did her Daddy know, she’d been in much more dangerous situations than a locked car in a night-time traffic jam. It didn’t do for a girl to share all the details of her job with her over-protective father, not when she was in her line of work.

“Ah, we have movement!” she suddenly told him with a happy grin. “I’ll see you soon, Dad,” she said, hanging up the phone and tossing the cell back into the glove compartment as the line of traffic before her started to disperse.

Unfortunately for Veronica, she got a whole fifty yards at a crawling pace before the light at the next junction turned red.

“Typical,” she complained as the cars in front drove off at speed, leaving her waiting, an impatient foot hovering at the gas pedal.

Suddenly, something in the edge of her field of vision caught her eye. A young man came bolting out of the side road, sporting the starts of a black eye she realised, as he was illuminated by the head lights of the car behind her. She knew who he was, oh she knew very well, though the guy in question would see her as a complete stranger. Something told Veronica he wouldn’t care too much about that right now as she swiftly unlocked the passenger door of her car and flung it open as he approached.

“Need to make a quick getaway?” she offered, much to his apparent relief.

Jumping in the car, he barely got the door shut as the lights turned green and Veronica put the pedal to the metal. Tyres squealed as the car shot off down the street, taking a corner she had not originally intended but knew she must now take.

“Where are we going?” the young man beside her asked, putting a careful hand to his eye and immediately regretting the action.

“Right now? Wherever you want, I guess.” The blonde in the driver's seat shrugged. “I mean, you’re the one running away from something, I’ll let you decide.”

“Anywhere far away from here,” he said, leaning back in the passenger seat and breathing heavily as he undid his tie and top buttons.

“Works for me.” She nodded, glancing his way. “I’m Veronica, by the way,” she introduced herself.

“Logan,” he told her, glad at least that she seemed oblivious to his situation in life.

“Well, Logan,” she said with a smile he found oddly infectious. “Looks like we’re headed wherever the road takes us tonight.”


	2. Chapter 2

Veronica Mars let out a yawn as she continued to drive down the highway away from LA, the sun coming up in the distance and almost blinding her. This was so not the plan. She had already been driving for hours when she ran across a certain little rich boy by the name of Logan Echolls and given him a ride out a sticky situation in the City of Angels. She had to leave town then, there was no choice, or she would make the young man beside her entirely suspicious.

Logan had no idea who he was travelling with. He saw her as a saviour and Veronica smiled at that thought. She had been called a hero a few times, but saving famous people from the paparazzi was more her father’s style these days than her own.

Keith Mars was head of the Echolls security, and Logan had known the guy since he was a kid, and yet never really talked to him. He didn’t really know that Keith had a daughter just a couple of years older than him, and he certainly would not have known her name. This was how he had come to dive into a car with that very same woman, believing she was a simple stranger and his key to freedom.

Glancing across at the sleeping Logan, Veronica couldn’t help but smile. The guy had everything, but she knew from what her Dad had said how miserable he was. Rich kids in their ivory towers were seldom happy with their lot. With fortune and fame forced upon them, they became prisoners in their own homes, and all because Mommy and Daddy Dearest favoured their high class careers and such above their own children.

It felt a little weird, feeling sorry for a person brought up to much greater things than herself. Veronica’s childhood had been far from straightforward, and she came from what the world would see as a broken home. Still, she believed her father had done a decent job with her. His work for Aaron and Lynn Echolls meant they had more money than they could ever spend these days, and yet Veronica had to work. Much like her father, she needed to be doing something, helping people, and here she was again doing just that.

By now, she knew what had happened at the movie premiere a few hours before. The radio had blared out the entertainment headlines not long after Logan had fallen asleep and told of an altercation between several of Hollywood’s young starlets. Thankfully, Logan was referred to as one of a few unknowns that bolted from the scene when things turned nasty. The black eye he was sporting certainly suggested he’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time, since Veronica highly doubted he had started a fight on his one night of semi-freedom that he had craved too long.

Glad for the sight of a cluster of buildings up ahead, Veronica pulled in to the forecourt of the gas station and then jostled Logan’s shoulder to bring him around.

“Hey, time to wake up, sleepyhead,” she urged him.

For a moment it seemed he was about to protest, maybe tell his Mom or the maid or whoever that he wanted five more minutes. Then one eye popped open, followed by its bruised friend and Logan seemed to recall where he was and why.

“Ow,” he complained as he tried to stretch out and found he had little room, plus every muscle in body protested at the state they found themselves in.

“Yeah, not the greatest place to sleep,” Veronica sympathised. “I’ve been there,” she told him as he glanced her way. “Just so you know, we’re out of LA, but I need to fill up the car, eat and sleep, and pretty much in that order,” she explained. “You coming with?” she suggested, reaching for the drivers side door handle and waiting a moment to hear his answer.

“I guess.” He nodded, moving to get out of the car when she did.

The gas station was at the front of the buildings Logan faced once he was out of the car, flanked by a restaurant, a motel, and a couple of other things around back that he couldn’t see so well. Honestly, he couldn’t see very much of anything very well if he used only his left eye to try. He turned his attention to Veronica as she grabbed the pump and began filling the car with gas. She was pretty hot now that he actually got a chance to look at her. Slim, blonde, and pretty, though he guessed a couple of years older than him, she was far from unattractive, and way more real than any of the bimbos he saw starring with his Dad in whatever blockbuster movie came next.

“Hey,” said Veronica, only then alerting Logan to the fact he was staring at her too much. “You may wanna lose the formalwear before we head inside to eat,” she suggested with a smile she could not help as she looked him over in his tux.

Logan hadn’t really thought about it until she alerted his attention to the fact he was massively over-dressed for a gas station forecourt and a cheap motel. Immediately, he removed his jacket, tossing it into the car, and then began contemplating what to do about the rest of his attire.

Once again, Veronica came to his rescue, as she finished filling the gas tank and moved to pop the trunk. Rummaging around in there, she emerged a moment later with what would be massively oversized sweatshirt on her and a pair of running shoes that clearly belonged to someone with much bigger feet.

“Here,” she said, handing them over. “Yes, before you ask, the sweatshirt is mine,” she told a startled Logan. “I got it from a friend... a male friend,” she clarified. “And the shoes are old ones of my dads, but hopefully they’ll fit okay.”

“Thanks,” he said, feeling even more stupid pitting this stuff on than he had standing around in his smart suit, but it seemed choices were limited right now.

“Okay, so...” said Veronica then, her words being swallowed up by the rumbling of her stomach a moment later, something that almost embarrassed her since she was standing close enough to Logan that he heard and tried not to laugh.

“I should buy you dinner, or breakfast,” he considered as he realised the sun had just recently risen. “After all you did kind of save my life or whatever.”

“Really?” said Veronica, quirking an eyebrow. “Exactly how much trouble were you in when you dived in my car last night? I mean, am I harbouring a wanted fugitive?”

“No,” he told her definitely. “No, not a fugitive,” he assured her, looking at his feet a moment, then out at the horizon which made him squint as the sun tried to blind him. “Just a guy that needed an escape, a little more freedom than he used to have.”

Veronica nodded her head at that, deciding that right now it was best not to say a word about knowing who he really was. Chances were good that nobody out here would recognise Logan Echolls, son of two movie stars. He hardly looked like a celebrity the way he was dressed now in her ex-boyfriend’s Hearst sweats and her Dad’s sneakers, sporting a black eye and mussed up hair from sleeping in a moving car all night. Besides, there was a chance that she would be able to give the guy what he always wanted...

“How about you head inside, grab us a table and order me some pancakes?” she suggested. “I have to deal with the car and make a phone call.” She smiled easily, glad when he didn’t argue or press her on who she was going to call.

Logan trusted her, which maybe made him a little naive, but Veronica couldn’t blame the guy for that. He hadn’t exactly been out in the world all that much to learn how it worked, not like she had. Just a two or three year age gap between them and yet he seemed like such a kid right now as he agreed with what she said and headed for the restaurant to order them breakfast.

With a sigh, Veronica set about paying for her gas and then moved the car around to the lot at the side of the group of buildings. Pulling her cell from her back pocket then, she moved out of sight and earshot of anyone else and dialled her fathers work number. Usually she wouldn’t use his official line, but this was kind of wok-related and an emergency by now, she was certain.

“Hey, Dad,” she greeted with him with a fake smile on her face, even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “Sorry I didn’t make it last night.”

“I got your text, honey,” he assured her, “but I couldn’t make much sense of it,” he admitted. “Actually, I didn’t have much time to focus, we kind of have a situation here,” he tried to tell her as Aaron Echolls yelled in the background.

“I know,” said Veronica. “Logan bolted from the movie premiere, he dove in the nearest car and got the hell out of dodge.”

“How do you know this, Veronica?” Keith asked her curiously.

“Because the car he chose was a certain Chrysler LeBaron with a young blonde PI driving it,” she admitted, waiting as her father let out a breath and covered the mouth-piece to tell Logan’s parents their son was fine.

“Honey, where are you now?” he asked her a moment later, and Veronica winced at the sound of her own words when she finally replied.

“I’m not sure I should tell you,” she said, apparently sending Aaron and Lynn into fits of hysterics as they must’ve been listening in and heard her. “Dad, hear me out please. Logan seems so desperate for a little freedom, maybe this in the best way to let him blow off steam?” she suggested. “Hardly anyone would recognise him, we don’t have to go far, and you know I can keep him safe,” she promised.

Keith excused himself a moment as he spoke to the Echolls. From what Veronica could hear, they didn’t sound thrilled...

“I don’t care, Keith, he is my son and I wanted him back here, right now!”

“Aaron, be reasonable. We forgot the boy’s birthday, he never has any fun and-”

“We give him everything he ever asks for, Lynn!”

“Pardon me, Aaron, but maybe Veronica is right. Perhaps just a few days of letting off steam would do Logan good-”

“No!”

“Aaron, think about it, just for a minute. Sweetheart, don’t you remember what you were like at eighteen?”

There was a long pause and Veronica strained to hear the words that came next, but all she could make out as vague mutterings until finally her dad came back on the line and spoke to her.

“Veronica, are you sure you can handle this?” he asked her seriously. “It’s a big reponsibility, and I know I can trust you, but-”

“It’s fine, Dad,” she assured him, turning to look back at the restaurant where Logan waited for her in a booth by the window. “I wanna do this. I know what it’s like to be a teenager, to just wanna cut loose for a while,” she reminded him. “And I can totally handle any situation that comes up.”

“Alright, well-” her father began his reply, only to have the phone unceremoniously snatched away by his boss.

“Miss Mars?” Aaron practically barked down the line at her. “I want you to know that if anything happens to my son on this fantasy road trip, there will be severe consequences!” he told her firmly and somewhat angrily.

“Trust me, Mr Echolls,” she urged him. “I can handle this, your son is perfectly safe.”

“That’s as may be,” he told her, “but I’m still having two men follow you,” he said determinedly, apparently talking to Keith now. “Those two idiots from last night want to make things up to us, they can prove themselves now!”

“Aaron, please!” In the background, Lynn tried to calm her husband down, for fear of him having some kind of seizure the state he was getting himself into.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry, but I gotta send Sachs and D’Amato to cover you,” Keith apologised to Veronica whose eyes went wide at the sound of those names.

“Well, that ought to be interesting.” She sighed, recalling the two men all too easily, not least because she used to date the latter, once upon a time.

The arrangements hastily made, Veronica agreed she and Logan would stay put at their current location and the two security men would catch up to them and begin tailing them later that day. All Keith really advised was that Veronica not cross any state lines whilst she had Logan with her, and keep in contact every day. Everything else was about to be left to chance, something Logan’s parents clearly weren’t thrilled about, but not even rich moviestars could have everything their own way.

* * *

Veronica joined Logan in the restaurant just as the waitress came over with her requested pancakes and his waffles too.

“Thank you,” the blonde said with a smile, first to the young woman with the name tag, and then to Logan who was sat across from her.

“No problem.” He smiled back just the same as they dug into their breakfast.

“So,” she said after a while, “I have to ask, how did you end up in my car, dressed in a tux, with a black eye, and no specific destination in mind?” she asked him, twirling her fork around in her hand and looking genuinely curious.

Fact of the matter was, although she had heard the news story on the radio, she really was keen to hear Logan’s version of events, or even the lie he would spin to get him out of this without revealing his true identity. He looked awkward a moment, glancing around as if to check no-one was watching or listening, before leaning across the table and encouraging Veronica to do the same.

“I work for the government,” he whispered. “Secret agent,” he told her, trying his hardest to keep the smirk off his lips but finding it was almost completely impossible.

“Well, that would explain the tux, Mr Bond,” she joked, just as she knew he was by now. “But seriously now, what is it you’re running from Logan?” she asked, popping another bite of pancakes into her mouth.

“I dunno.” He shrugged, pushing the rest of his last waffle around the plate. “Maybe the same thing you are? I mean, you don’t seem to know where you’re going or why,” he noted. “You often just let strangers dive into your car?” he asked curiously, thinking that was an odd and also highly dangerous hobby for a young woman, or anybody really.

“No, I don’t,” she assured him, swallowing the last of her breakfast and dropping her fork and paper napkin onto the edge of the plate. “I guess when I saw you, I just felt like it was the right thing to do.” She smiled. “Besides, you’re kind of lacking in the whole axe-murdery vibe,” she assured him, making a vague gesture with her hands and causing him to laugh out loud.

She was perhaps the strangest woman he had ever met in his life, and there had been some weird people pass through over the years. It didn’t make much sense for her to be as young, free, and single as she seemed. Driving around with no plan, no direction, it was more than a little odd to Logan, and yet at the same time he loved the idea of doing just that, especially if he could share this crazy journey with Veronica. She had an infectious smile that he couldn’t imagine getting tired of any time soon and she had invited him into her car without a thought in her head which was strange too...

“Hmm,” he made a sound the that caught her attention, as did his intense staring at her. “How do I know that you’re not an axe murder?” he considered aloud, and Veronica honestly wasn’t sure if that was a real question or some kind of joke.

Either way, the answer she gave would cover it.

“Because you slept all night in my car and you woke up in the morning to tell the tale,” she told him. “If I were going to do anything, I think I would’ve done it by now,” she pointed out, as she leant back in her seat, and let out a yawn she really couldn’t help but give in to. “So, now we’ve both established we’re not crazy people, I’d really like to get some sleep before anything else crazy happens,” she admitted pulling herself up from her seat, then leaning over to grab up her abandoned orange juice and gulp down the remainder.

Logan was soon following her to the cash register to pay their bill, his hand hovering over the platinum card in his wallet before he very deliberately pulled out some cash to use. Nobody needed to see his name on the card, that was only going to arouse suspicion and get his ass hauled back home, just when his adventure was beginning.

Walking across to the motel, Logan was kind of stunned when Veronica asked if they had a twin room available for them to sleep in. His confusion obviously showed as the blonde quickly explained herself, covering for the fact a security issue was the real reason behind her request.

“Half a twin is cheaper than a whole single each.” She shrugged. “Unless it’s a problem...?” she began, stopping with a smile when Logan shook his head and assured her it was fine.

His expression suggested he was actually much less than fine, though Veronica doubted it was sharing a room with her that was bugging him. This place was kind of a dive, not the most unclean place she’d ever stayed in but it still must look pretty bad to a guy who lived in a veritable mansion, no doubt with a bathtub the size of a swimming pool, silk sheets on the bed, and a view to die for from a white marble balcony or some such. Still, for today this place was home, somewhere to stay and sleep, and allow the rest of the security team to come back them up. That part thrilled Veronica about as much as sleeping on a previously-used mattress thrilled Logan, but for every up there was a down, and the boy was going to have to learn that if he wanted his so-called freedom as badly as it seemed he did.


	3. Chapter 3

Veronica was beyond tired as she got up to the motel room and let herself inside. She headed straight for the bed, dumping her bag at the end of it and rifling through to find her nightwear. It took just a couple of minutes before she realised that Logan was stood just inside the doorway staring at her strangely. The thought occurred then that he might find it weird sharing a room with a woman, after all it was unlikely he’d done such a thing before. At just eighteen, as she knew he was, the guy would have hormones aplenty but probably little or no chance to act on them, locked up in his ivory tower as Veronica knew he had been. She wasn’t the type to randomly sleep around herself, but there had been guys, she knew the score, and she wasn’t at all embarrassed about the prospect of sharing a room for the night with a person of the opposite sex, even if Logan was.

“Are you okay?” she asked him when he continued to look awkward, glancing around at the peeling paper on every wall and the dust-covered light shade above their heads.

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded after a moment, just now considering what he was going to sleep in since he had bolted from the movie premiere with nothing but the suit he’d been dressed in and a wallet holding little actual cash.

For a moment, Logan thought perhaps he never should’ve done this, jumped into a car with a stranger and let her drive him wherever she pleased. His own bed at home did appeal, but everything that came with it did not the more Logan considered it. Parents who didn’t care, staff that would barely talk to him, no friends and no fun to speak of. This place might be kind of a dive, but he wasn’t alone and he was free to do whatever he wanted, for a while at least.

Glancing over at Veronica, he watched her remove her jacket and top, revealing a vest-top underneath. She kicked her shoes off next and reached down to push her pants off her legs, at which point Logan had the good grace to turn around, sitting on the edge of the bed that was apparently to be his for the night. Veronica knew he had been staring. She also knew he looked away when she got down to her underwear which made her smile. Either he was a gentleman or he was easily embarrassed, and that made him quite sweet, whichever of the two options were true.

“Veronica?” he said as she climbed into bed. “Why’d you offer me a ride last night?” he asked her curiously as he slid the borrowed sweatshirt over his head and unbuckled his belt.

The blonde kept her back to him a moment as she thought fast, knowing that telling him the truth world ruin this whole thing. A few seconds passed before she turned over, propping herself up on her elbow and looking over at him.

“Because you looked like you could use a friend,” she said eventually, a partial lie but also true at the same time.

He really had looked kind of lost and not just last night, running from whatever trouble had started at the movie premiere he was attending, but every time she had seen him in a picture or on the news. He was kept in the background but visible occasionally to the trained eye, and Veronica had noticed him, noticed how lonely he always looked. She understood that feeling because she’d felt it often enough herself over the years.

“So now I have a friend.” He smiled cheekily. “One who offered to sleep with me on the first night,” he joked, making Veronica open her mouth in protest only to close it again when she realised what he meant.

“Sleep, yes, very clever.” She rolled her eyes before turning over and trying to get that rest she’d been talking about this whole time.

Logan sat up in the other bed, staring across at the young woman who was, to all intents and purposes, his saviour. That kind of made it sound like she’d prevented his death or something, but in a way he supposed she had. He was dying on the inside, being kept in a virtual prison for most of his eighteen years. Sure, that prison contained all kinds of luxury, but it wasn’t the same as having the freedom to roam.

Sleep wasn’t going to come easy, after all, he’d already spent most of the car journey catching up on his Zs. Of course, Veronica would need to sleep, he probably kept her up all night having her play chauffeur to his great escape, but he’d find a way to repay her for that. She was the strangest woman he ever met, but one of the most straight-forward perhaps. She didn’t seem to be working an angle or care why he was here. She asked very few questions, she just wanted to help him out. That was kind of amazing to Logan, who so far in his life only really recalled meeting the rich and pointless, and those who were out to make a quick buck off his family’s name and fortune.

If Logan was going to have this adventure that he seemed to be starting right now, Veronica seemed like a good person to share it with. Though he doubted she was much older than him, she exuded this worldly wisdom that he found interesting and somewhat comforting now he was out in the big scary world. Going home was still an option of course, but his Dad would probably have his ass for what he’d done last night. At least he could make his escape worth the punishment if he got the freedom he wanted first.

“Veronica?” he called across to her, and though she sounded sleepy she did answer.

“Uh-huh.”

“Where are you going from here?”

“I don’t know,” she told him, turning over to glance at him. “I’m on vacation right now, so I guess... wherever I want.” She shrugged. “Why?”

“You want a roadtrip buddy a while longer?” he asked her, glad to see a smile spread across her lips at the sound of those words.

“Sure,” she agreed, “but only on one condition,” she added, looking more serious and pointing a finger at him. “Let me sleep,” she begged him and with a smirk he couldn’t help, Logan nodded his agreement.

“Goodnight, Veronica,” he said as he too laid down and attempted to get some shut eye.

“Goodnight, Logan,” she replied in kind, glad to finally be getting some peace before their real adventure began tomorrow.

* * *

Veronica woke up sharply as the midday sun streaked across her face. Squinting against the too bright light, her brain fought to catch up with where she was and why, then the memories started hitting her one after the other until l her head ached. She’d taken on a fool’s mission, at least she was pretty sure most people would see it that way. She was voluntarily baby-sitting a rich teenage boy with a yen for freedom, all without payment and without him really knowing who she was.

‘Why do I get myself into these stupid situations?’ thought Veronica as she pulled herself up to a sitting position, rubbing her eyes until they cleared.

Glancing across at the bed beside hers, the blonde was suddenly very awake when she realised that Logan Echolls, her impromptu travel buddy and guy she was supposed to be keeping an eye on and protecting from harm, was gone!

Running all kinds of scenarios through her head, Veronica grabbed up her cell that flashed with an unread message which must’ve come in whilst she slept. On automatic, she opened the text and felt vaguely relieved yet at the same time annoyed to realise the back up had arrived. Just a few doors down the hall, Sachs and D’Amato were holed up together, waiting for Veronica and Logan to go on the move. Of course, that thought led to the one that reminded the Private Investigator that her precious commodity of a travel partner was missing!

“Damn!” she cursed, just about to swing her legs out of the bed and get dressed when the door flew open and in strolled Logan himself, the very picture of innocence.

“Hey,” he said with a smile that faded fast when he saw the look on Veronica’s face. “You okay?” he asked with genuine concern, though his eyes had drifted a little from her worried eyes to her chest that was clad only in a lacy bra and no longer covered by the bedclothes.

“I’m fine.” She waved away his concern. “I just... had kind of a nightmare,” she covered, only a half-lie since losing him would have been quite the crisis in all kinds of ways. “Where’ve you been?” she asked curiously, trying to breathe evenly and not sound angry, after all, it wasn’t exactly Logan’s fault he nearly gave her a heart attack!

“Just down to the front desk,” he explained, showing her the folded paper in his hands. “Picked up a map of the area, looking for places to go,” he said as he sat down on the edge of the bed with his back to her as Veronica made it clear she was getting out of bed now.

She was dressed inside a minute and climbed onto the bed behind Logan, peering over his shoulder at the map he’d laid out across his lap. It had occurred to him last night that he was alone in a hotel room with a beautiful young woman, but the thought came crashing back to him with a vengeance now she was close enough to feel the warmth of her body, and on a bed no less.

“So, are you a city girl or a beach girl?” he asked, trying to concentrate on the task at hand and not on the closeness of Veronica.

“City, I guess,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders, “but only because it’s been so long since I’ve actually seen a beach close up.”

“You wanna go?” he asked, turning to look at her and wishing he hadn’t when he found her still impossibly close to him.

She noticed too and quickly backed up off the bed, trying not to be too obvious in doing so. The last thing she needed was for the cute little rich boy to fall for her, she told herself, immediately angry at her own thought process when she realised she had just called him cute, albeit inside her own head.

“Sure, we can do that.” She nodded, wandering back across the room and picking up her things from the nightstand - watch, wallet, sunglasses, cell phone, and car keys. “You wanna drive?” she asked dangling said keys from her fingers.

“Are you serious?” he asked with a grin and eyes as wide as saucers - like her Chrysler LeBaron was really such a dream car!

“Assuming you have a licence,” she checked, at which he nodded. “Then sure. I could use a break from being behind the wheel,” she said as she handed him the keys and stretched out her body.

Logan tried not to stare for about the third time already today, as Veronica’s shirt parted company with her pants. He’d seen more real-life female flesh in the past twenty four hours than he’d seen in the past few weeks locked in his ivory tower, not that her body was the only thing he liked about Veronica. She seemed fun and interesting, and she didn’t recognise who he was, which pleased Logan to end. More than that, she wanted to help him and give him the adventure he’d been wanting too long. For that he was always going to think she was the coolest woman he ever met in his life.


	4. Chapter 4

Logan Echolls could hardly believe this. Surely he had to be dreaming, he couldn’t really be driving down the open highway with a hot blonde at his side, headed for the beach to spend the day doing whatever they wanted. This wasn’t his life, it was something out a movie, not the kind of movie his father made, but one of those fantasy-world high school movies where the guy gets away with everything, like Ferris Bueller maybe. He was having a ball, and the adventure had barely even begun.

Veronica stole glances at the young man driving her car. He didn’t notice since her eyes were hidden behind the tinted glass of her shades. The grin on Logan’s face appeared to be unwavering, and she was kind of proud to know she’d helped put it there. She couldn’t stand the idea of not having freedom, of not being able to go out and do whatever she wanted. Sure, she had to work, and back when she was a teen her father had always wanted her to study hard and be careful when she went out alone. Still, he had afforded her some independence, she was never to be holed up in her home, not seeing anyone or anything. That wasn’t living, it was prison. She understood Logan’s parents wanting to keep him safe, but there were limits. Besides, right now he was getting his adventure and being kept away from harm - it was perfect... almost.

“Y’know what would make this trip perfect?” she asked, shooting him a look as he glanced her way.

A quick dig around in her bag and Veronica had produced a mixed tape which was duly pushed into the player with a click. She cranked the volume just in time for the sound of Journey to flood the car, their hit Anyway You Want It seemed just perfect for the moment and Logan chuckled at her choice.

“Interesting driving music,” he told her with a look, before his eyes returned dutifully to the road. “Your mom make this tape for you?” he asked, an apparent joke, but Veronica was too quiet and not laughing which made him wonder if he’d just screwed up royally.

“Actually, yes,” she said, perhaps not as quietly as she might have because she wouldn’t have been heard over the music if she had. “Every time we went out to the mall or something to have a girls day, this was the travel music.” She smiled sadly. “We sang along to every track and I was so happy... She left when I was fifteen,” she said then, shaking her head clear of memories, glad her dark glasses hid the tears she felt welling in her eyes even now.

“Veronica, I’m sorry-” Logan began, but the moment was gone, her smile was back, however shakily, and she waved away his attempt at an apology.

“It’s okay, you didn’t know,” she assured him, “but as punishment you now have to listen to the rest of this tape,” she told him with a dangerous smile. “And I expect your best singing voice, Logan, especially on the next track. It happens to be one of my favourites.”

“Dare I even ask?” he said, practically wincing as the Journey song started to fade out and track two kicked in with a vengeance.

A familiar voice yelled about the woman that gave love a bad name and Logan was almost loathed to admit he knew every word to the rock classic. Ah well, if the way Veronica was dancing in her seat beside him was anything to go by, he wouldn’t be mocked for his best Bon Jovi impression. He sang long and loud as they tore down the highway towards the beach, the pair of them too loud and hardly ever in tune, but it didn’t matter. Logan and Veronica were having the time of their lives right now.

It might occur to them later how crazy they were being, but it was doubtful they would care. Veronica was starting to realise that this might just be as much a vacation for her as it was for Logan. Okay, so spending time with her Dad would have been cool, and actually not working too, but this didn’t much feel like work right now. She would have to have her eyes and ears open at the beach more so than here in the car that was constantly moving. If they were spotted, if Logan was identified as the son of movie-stars, things could turn bad and she had to be mindful of that. Still, if the guy had been under practical house arrest so much, it was unlikely too many people would be aware of exactly what he looked like. Last nights scandal at the movie premiere wouldn’t have helped but she was pretty confident they could get away with quite a bit without being caught. It wasn’t like she didn’t have back up anyway. Somewhere behind them, though mostly out of sight, D’Amato and Sachs were tailing them, a thought that Veronica tried to keep out of her head as much as possible, not least because Leo just happened to be her ex!

For himself, Logan had never felt this free in the whole of his life. He was legally allowed to drive and had been for a while now and yet had not ever been given the freedom to just go out and do it. His Dad bought him a car but it only came out of the garage if he promised to stay in the grounds of the house - where was the fun in that? This was what he wanted, the only thing he ever wanted and was never permitted to have, and that was his independence.

Coming around the next bend to the appropriate sound of Boston’s More Than A Feeling, Logan and Veronica saw the beach come into view. They hadn’t thought of an exact plan of what they were going to do when they got there, and it had yet to cross Logan’s mind what he was even going to wear, but that didn’t matter. Fun was to be had, that was the beginning, middle, and end of the plan.

As Logan pulled the car up, the tape player switching off with a clunk, Veronica felt her business-like self kick in a little. The beach was pretty secluded with not too many people on it yet. Some girls were sunbathing, a few kids played in the water. It was all fairly normal and as far as she could tell, and nobody had even paid attention to their arrival.

“That’s a serious look for someone who was smiling thirty seconds ago,” said Logan as he looked across at her. “You okay, Veronica?”

“Yeah, sure.” She was happy again in an instant, perhaps because she forced it a little, maybe just because Logan’s own expression was infectious.

He was like a kid in a candy store as he practically leapt out of the car and looked out at the scene before them. Sun, sea, and sand, it was the perfect daydream setting for a lot of people, and yet for Logan it was so much more than that. Veronica saw the longing in his eyes, the need to be free. She knew this trip was his one shot and that it could be cut short at any time.

“C’mon,” she said from the other side of the car as she pulled off her shoes and yanked her top over her head.

He watched as she quickly stripped down to a vest top, disappearing briefly behind the car and emerging a moment later with short-shorts and flip flops in place of her jeans and sneakers.

Running around the car, she encouraged Logan to follow her, clapping him across the shoulder as she began running down onto the beach.

“Come on!” she repeated more forcefully with a giggle that she couldn’t help, gesturing for him to follow her towards the sea.

Now understanding the plan, Logan couldn’t help but laugh at her antics as he pulled the sweatshirt over his head, kicked off the shoes he wore, and rolled his pants up to his knees. He was soon pelting down the beach after her, her hand catching hold of his as they met near the edge of the water and dove right in splashing and laughing. It was like a pair of little kids who never saw the sea before, but it was fun, and it was what they both needed right now - real life be damned.

* * *

This was not exactly Leo D’Amato’s idea of fun. He signed on to be part of the security team protecting the movie-star family that were the Echolls, and for the most part he liked what he did. He was proud to know he was keeping people safe, okay, maybe not as many people as if he were a law enforcement officer of some kind, but this paid way better. If he was going to help put his disabled little sister through schooling, he needed as much cash as he could lay his hands on.

Usual assignments for Leo and his fellow security staff were fine; standing on doors, ushering people in and out of cars; occasionally chasing down the odd stalker or burglars. This was all very different, and not necessarily in a good way. After all, exactly what man was going to like the idea of playing undercover guy, following around a movie stars son, and oh yes, his own ex-girlfriend, making sure they didn’t get into trouble on a Summer holiday adventure? Yeah, so not Leo’s idea of a good time, not least because he had to spend this whole trip with a dude.

Sachs was a good guy, no two ways about it, but he was very serious about his job and really not a whole lot of fun. Besides, the two of them driving around together, sharing hotel rooms and such, they were just going to end up looking like some kind of gay couple if they weren’t careful, and Leo wasn’t thrilled about that either. He liked girls, used to like Veronica Mars a whole lot, and if truth be told, those feelings he had for her never had entirely gone away. That made it all the more difficult to realise that she had shared a room with Logan Echolls last night, however innocently. On top of that, he and Sachs now had to sit by the beach in their car, watching Logan and Veronica splashing in the sea like a pair of young lovers.

“Yep, this is gonna be a looong trip.” Leo sighed as he unclipped his seat belt and tried to get comfortable for an afternoon of sitting and watching.

“Hey, it beats being stuck at the Echolls house the whole time,” his partner tried to tell him as he too leant back as far as the drivers seat would allow. “Think of it like a summer vacation.” He shrugged, seeming decidedly chipper, which only served to make Leo more annoyed.

“Yeah, a summer vacation.” He rolled his eyes. “Following my ex around, whilst she plays out the opening scene to Grease right in front of me - awesome.”

“Hey, I think we’re up,” said Sachs suddenly, making Leo sit up with a start and look in the direction his partner was pointing.

There on the edge of the beach was a pair of girls with a camera-phone, pointing and giggling as they took some happy snappy shots of the couple down on the sand that Leo and Sachs were there to keep an eye on. Chances were good they’d figured out who Logan was and that was bad.

The security men were out of the car in a second, Sachs appearing just about ready to start some kind of arrest procedure from the look on his face. Leo had other ideas and put his arm out to stop his partner going any further.

“Hold on a sec,” he urged him. “Let’s play this cool,” he suggested, adjusting the sunglasses on his face and strolling on over to the girls. “Hello ladies...”

* * *

“Oh my God,” Veronica was laughing and gasping for air at the same time as she landed on her back on the sand. “I haven’t done anything like this since high school,” she admitted.

That made Logan recall she was older than him, as he sat down beside her on the beach, pushing his wet hair off his face. She didn’t seem that much older, not enough to make him feel like Benjamin Braddock to her Mrs Robinson. Not that they were sleeping together or anything anyway, not like that, though when he looked across at her toned body on the hot sand, glistening with water and all...

“You okay?” she asked, putting a hand above her eyes to block out the sun and immediately noticing the odd look on his face.

“Er, yeah,” said Logan, shaking one or two dirty thoughts from his head as he laid down on the sand beside her, looking away a moment. “How long ago was high school?” he asked her curiously.

“Nice get around.” She smiled, making him look at her strangely again. “Well, you’re not supposed to ask a woman her age so that one allows you to figure it out for yourself from my answer, right?” She smiled, not giving him a chance to say anything as she closed her eyes and lay back on the sand, immediately continuing. “I graduated three years ago,” she sighed. “Seems like a lifetime.”

Logan dared to look her way since her eyes were now closed and she wouldn’t know about it. That made her twenty-one, just those three years older than him since he would also be graduating age, if he had been allowed to attend a real high school. Home schooling was supposed to be for losers, but it was also for movie star kids and the kids of movie stars. Not that Logan was feeling much like his real self right now, or maybe he was feeling it more than ever. He had wanted to be free to have fun for so long, and now he was finally getting that dream, alongside a beautiful woman. He couldn’t imagine it got much better than this.

“Thanks, Veronica,” he said as he followed her lead and relaxed into the sand, his eyes falling closed.

“For what?” she asked peeking at him through one squinted eye.

“This,” he answered simply. “Letting me share your vacation,” he clarified at which she couldn’t help but smile.

“No problem,” she said easily, as they both relaxed in the sunshine, neither regretting their decision to be here one little bit right now.


	5. Chapter 5

The sun was going down and the air turning cool when Veronica decided now was the time to get off the beach and go elsewhere. Checking Google maps on her cell showed the next town was just a few minutes drive away and had a mall where she could get Logan some more clothes, which he was severely lacking, and at least one hotel they could crash at. Her travel buddy was currently making his way back across the sand towards the car where she was waiting, an ice cream in either hand that he said they had to have before they left. It had been a hell of an afternoon of running and splashing, talking and sunbathing. They’d had a really great time, to the point where Veronica almost forgot this was just a job. She was reminded rather abruptly as her cell rang in her hand, the display telling her that ‘LD’ was calling.

“Hello, Leo,” she said with a wry smile. “You have exactly two minutes until Logan reaches this car and then I am hanging up. Suspicion is not to be aroused.”

“Hey, Veronica,” her ex greeted her with a smile she didn’t need to see to know it was there. “Just make sure you don’t go arousing anything else either. The boy likes you, I can see that from here.”

Veronica turned around to see if she could spot her trackers and sure enough she pinpointed them within a few seconds, their car parked across the way in a row of others. It wouldn’t be at all suspicious to anybody else, but she was trained for this kind of thing.

“Keep your mind out the gutter and your eye on the ball, D’Amato,” she warned him. “You do your job, I’ll do mine.”

“You got it, boss,” he mocked her. “But seriously though, couple of girls spotted the boy wonder, they were taking some camera-phone shots. Don’t worry though, I was my usual charming yet clutzy self.”

“What did you do?” she asked curiously, a smile on her lips that she couldn’t help as they chatted just like old times. “Did ya strike out with the lizadees, bro?

“Let’s just say I owe a very pretty girl a very expensive replacement cell, and a Coke that she didn’t so much wanna drink with a phone float,” he explained with a chuckle that made Veronica laugh too, until she spotted Logan getting very close.

“Keep up the good work, Deputy,” she teased him, just as he had been doing with her, before hanging up from the call just as Logan reached her, handing her an ice-cream cone. “Thanks.” She smiled gratefully as he hopped into the car beside her.

“Who was on the phone?” he asked curiously as they ate.

Veronica almost felt like snapping at him for daring to ask, but it was a fair and honest question. Besides, if she got weird and jumpy he wasn’t going to trust her, and she needed that trust right now if this was going to work out.

“Just a friend wondering how my vacation is going.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, and if she were telling the absolute truth it really wouldn’t be.

“How is it going?” asked Logan curiously, glancing sideways at Veronica as she shifted in her seat and pocketed her cell, trying not to drop her ice-cream in the process.

“I’m having a good time with a new friend,” she replied easily, smiling as she licked at her vanilla treat, enjoying it immensely. “But I was thinking,” she continued, around a mouthful that she quickly swallowed, “we should drive into town, do a little shopping before we call it a night. You seem to be a little lacking in the clothing department,” she said with a dubious look at what he was wearing right now, a hybrid of his own fancy suit and her hand-me-down extras.

“Well, a man likes to travel light,” he joked as he leant back in the seat some and licked at his ice-cream.

“There’s light and there’s downright stinky, which you will be if we don’t get you some fancy new duds,” Veronica teased him. “And speaking of phone calls as we were a moment ago, don’t you have anyone at home you should let know you’re okay?” she asked, as if she didn’t know.

Logan looked thoughtful a moment before he sighed.

“I guess I owe my parents a call at least,” he considered, and Veronica was just about to dig out her cell phone again when he shook his head to stop her. “Later,” he said simply, and silence then reigned as the pair enjoyed their ice-cream and the sight of the sun setting into the sea.

* * *

“Everybody come and play, throw every last care away, let’s go to the mall... today!”

It wasn’t a song he got at first, took Logan a minute to puzzle out, not least because Veronica was muttering the lyrics more than really meaning to sing aloud, as they walked through row on row of stores. Then suddenly it hit him.

“Robin Sparkles,” he declared, with a snap of his fingers.

“I’m sorry?” said Veronica as she turned back to look at him, appearing innocent enough but Logan knew better somehow.

“Me too.” He grinned. “I’m at the mall with a Robin Sparkles fan,” he winced and forced a shudder of disgust that made Veronica laugh but also want to swing for him at the same time.

“Shut up,” she said with a chuckle as she socked him in the arm, hoping to change the subject fast to save her blushes, “and let’s get you some new clothing,” she advised, turning into a nearby store.

“Yes, ma’am,” her companion saluted, dancing the robot as he followed her into the store, but stopping fast when a couple of kids started laughing at him.

Logan didn’t feel much like joking around anyway as he glanced around at the rails of clothing on offer. He wrinkled his nose at the odd smell in the air and the fact this place was wall to wall cheap attire.

“Seriously, this place?” he asked, feeling every kind of uncomfortable,

Of course, Veronica knew why but she wasn’t supposed to. Taking him straight into some high-end store looked presumptuous, and might have blown her cover. If he wanted to tell her the truth of who he was, Logan would do so in his own time. She was happy to let this ride as it was for now.

“Well, there’s a designer store over that-a-way,” she pointed, “but I figured this might be more your price range.” She shrugged, all innocence as she started sorting through a rack of T-shirts, apparently deciding the green would look better on Logan than the blue.

“Actually,” he started to say as he leant against the end of the rail, changing his mind in a moment, “I have a credit card, but I don’t think I’ll be using that,” he said thoughtfully.

Veronica kept her eyes on the clothes when she spoke again.

“Should I even ask?” she said, without any particular tone, though in her head she’d already figured out what she expected his answer to be.

“My parents will check where I spend and try to find me,” he told her, just exactly as Veronica knew he would. “I could use not being traced.”

She smiled as she glanced up at him, handing over a selection of T-shirts that were five for ten dollars.

“I’ll ask no secrets, you tell me no lies,” she said as she breezed by to another rail, this time of pants.

Logan was barely paying attention anymore. As much as he’d enjoyed spending today with his new little blonde friend, and Veronica really was awesome, mentioning his parents reminded him just exactly what he was doing. This was a million miles from his world, the reality he had left behind to go on some wild adventure. His Dad was doubtless going nuts by now, and his Mom would be worried sick. It amused Logan a little to know his father was probably mad as hell with him and unable to vent his anger, but it didn’t make Logan feel particularly good to know he might be scaring his Mom who had a tendency to panic about her baby boy at times. It was maybe the only part of all this he could live to regret and without a thought in his head he dipped into his pocket for his cell phone that had been switched off since his initial bolt from the movie premiere.

Veronica was stealing glances at her secret charge from behind the rack of young men’s clothing she was rifling through. She had thought about encouraging Logan to pull an ET and phone home, but she also knew she had to be careful with just exactly what she said to him. Keeping her lies straight was her strong point, it had to be in her line of work, but this felt so far from a job right now. For the first time in a long time, Veronica Mars was allowing herself to cut loose and have fun with someone close to her own age who wanted just the same things she did - a vacation, laughter, fun, relaxation, no strings attached and nothing and no-one to worry about but themselves. It felt good, but Veronica had to keep reminding herself to be wary too. Sure, there was back-up in place, Sachs and D’Amato were paid too much not to be vigilant and all, but she still had to be on her guard and do her own part of this job properly. If they had to come to the rescue in too big a way the cover would be blown, and it might just break Logan’s heart to know what his parents and she herself had done to him.

Across the way, the boy in question checked the screen of his cell and scoffed at the sight that met his eyes. Forty seven missed calls and a matching number of messages. A quick scroll down the list proved what he already knew. His Mom and Dad had been calling, alongside Keith Mars, head of security, and a couple of his so-called friends as well, including Dick Casablancas. They had all made attempts to contact him, no doubt to trace the call and track him down. Hell, Logan was surprised they hadn’t tried harder and weren’t still calling now. It almost hurt to realise they had given up so easy, even if he should be glad about it.

Dialling his Mom’s cell, Logan put the phone to his ear and waited for her to pick up.

“Logan, sweetheart?” she gasped as she answered in a matter of seconds.

“Yeah, Mom, it’s me,” he assured her with a smile that he just couldn’t help, after all, it was kind of nice to hear her voice, especially when she was apparently so pleased to hear from him.

“Where are you, Logan? Please let us know, we’ve been worried sick,” she told him desperately, as Aaron started up yelling in the background, making his son wince.

“I’m fine, Mom,” he promised her, not realising of course that his Oscar-winning parents were play acting their concern for the most part.

As Logan explained he just needed to be free a while, Keith was talking to D’Amato on the other line, showing Lynn and Aaron on a map the exact mall their son was standing in to make his call. It was peace of mind for them and a complete scam on Logan, but he was getting what he wanted, and so they told themselves it was fine.

Veronica moved from one rail of clothes to another that was a little closer. She listened in as Logan made his call and his parents told him they were not happy but they understood his need to have a little independence.

“You sure you’re okay about this, Dad?” he asked his father in particular, completely stunned that he was allowing him to do this.

“No, Logan, I’m not okay,” he said, and that at least was honest, hence the fact his tone sounded normal and angry to his son, “but your mother has made it clear you need at least a few days of freedom and I’m assured by Mr Mars that he can find you at any time should some emergency occur,” he told Logan truthfully, albeit he was leaving out some major details. “You make sure you call us each day, and do not get into any kind of trouble, and you have our permission to take your... vacation, or whatever this is.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Logan with a nod and a grin that spread right across his face as he turned to find Veronica very close behind him.

He gave her a thumbs up gesture which she returned with a smile, glad for him that he had parental approval. Of course, she knew he was going to get that, she knew a great deal more than even he did about this situation, and yet could not say a word.

“Logan, honey,” his mother was back on the line now. “Do you have enough money and everything?” she checked worriedly.

“Sure, Mom.” He grinned even wider if it were possible, now sure that he would not be tracked down and dragged back home kicking and screaming if he went a little nuts with his credit card. “I’m just fine.”

Of course, Logan knew he couldn’t go using his no-limit platinum whereever he wanted. With his name right there on the card it’d be way too risky, but that didn’t stop him from finding the nearest ATM and getting all that he needed in cash.

A few more pleasantries, including a mumbled I love you, and a swift see you soon, and Logan ended the call. Veronica stood before him with an armful of clothes, about to ask what had happened, in spite of the fact she secretly knew already. What she did not expect was for Logan to take the clothes from her arms, toss the whole lot aside, grab up her hand and bolt from the store, dragging her behind him.

The two of them got more than one strange look as they ran together through the middle of the mall, with Logan whooping and laughing like a sugar-high child. Veronica didn’t judge him; after all, moderate freedom was all well and good, but the unadulterated kind that he felt he had now had to mean so much more. She planned to help Logan enjoy this for as long as it could last.


	6. Chapter 6

“Come on, what’s the problem?” asked Logan as he and Veronica stood outside the jewellery store.

“The problem is I don’t want you spending money on me,” she told him, feeling so extremely awkward right now.

They had been all over the mall, originally to buy clothes for Logan but also window shopping and just messing around, hanging out and having fun. By now it was dark outside and Veronica had mentioned finding a hotel so they could get some sleep, but nothing would stop Logan in the quest he had been on for the past hour. He wanted to buy his new friend and vacation-buddy something to say thank you for letting him tag along on her trip but she was determined that there was no need for it and there was nothing here she wanted.

Logan refused to believe he had found the only woman in the world unable to find something desirable in a mall! He had suggested clothes, jewellery, all manner of jokey things and gadgets that had made her chuckle, but Veronica refused every single one. He tried to tell her it was fine, he had plenty of cash and he didn’t mind at all, but still the little blonde insisted on saying ‘thanks but no thanks’ as she shook her head.

Of course, Veronica knew it would be easy enough to just accept some kind of gift, if only to stop Logan asking, and asking, and asking some more. She could have picked out something cheap and cheerful, maybe even something useful, and then made sure she paid him back later, albeit secretly. She was doing a job here, and even though it felt as if she and Logan could and would become friends on this trip, she wasn’t willing to start getting in too deep. Accepting a cheap gift would have been pretty easy, then just make sure the cash got back to the Echolls family via her Dad when this trip was all over, she’d feel okay about that... kind of. It meant being more deceitful than she was already being though, and since Veronica hoped to keep her lies to a minimum for however long this vacation lasted, she just kept on saying no and making excuses.

“Please, Logan,” she urged him, even as he pointed out a necklace that would match the earrings she was wearing, a bracelet with stones the same colour as her top. “Can we please just go? I’m tired,” she told him, the truth for once and a genuine yawn escaped her lips to confirm it.

Logan didn’t like that he’d spent so much money here today and not a dime of it on her. He knew very well that friends couldn’t be bought and he didn’t want to do that, he just wanted Veronica to know how much he appreciated what she was doing, changing her plans to accommodate him, letting him share her car, her space, her whole vacation. It didn’t make a lot of sense to him, especially since she didn’t seem to even know who he was, but Logan didn’t question it, he was just so glad to be here and free.

“Okay, let’s go,” he agreed at last and Veronica left out a sigh of relief as they moved out of the shopping mall and headed down the street towards the hotel she had suggested on their way into town.

Veronica dreaded another fight over who was paying for the room, but thankfully Logan seemed uninterested in the bookings. He told Veronica to figure something out and let him know how much he owed her when she was done. He wandered off almost the second they got in the door, mumbling something about the bathroom before leaving her in charge of all his bags of shopping and the job of booking them a pair of rooms. Veronica didn’t mind much, though she didn’t like losing sight of him. She trusted that Leo and Sachs were close by, keeping an eye on things, though she hadn’t bargained on them being quite as nearby as they actually were...

“Hey.” A tap on her shoulder and a quiet word spoken right into her ear had Veronica spinning around so fast she almost knocked herself over with the force of it. “Sorry, guess I’m a little stealthier than I thought.” Leo smiled as he put his hands to Veronicas shoulders and steadied her.

“What are doing here?” she hissed, checking to be sure Logan wasn’t in sight.

“Mostly my job.” He shrugged, even as she pushed his hands from her body. “You two check in, we check in. That’s kinda how the whole tracking thing works”

“If Logan sees you talking to me...” said Veronica looking worried, but he waved away her concern in a second.

“Relax,” Leo told her easily. “Sachs has his eye on the boy wonder. Seems he wasn’t just sneaking out for a bathroom break either.” He grinned too much. “See, I was gonna explain better than that, but after the way you were so snappy with me, maybe I won’t,” he said annoyingly as he backed up a couple of steps, still smiling. “Later, Mars.” He winked, disappearing from her sight just as fast as he’d appeared.

“Excuse me, ma’am?” She was snapped out of a daze just a moment later as the girl behind the hotel’s front desk thrust two key cards in her hand at last. “Two single rooms with adjoining en suite bathroom.” She smiled overly much and it was all Veronica could do not to smack her upside her head just for being so damn happy when she felt quite the opposite - was everyone just trying to make her mad right now?

“Thank you,” she forced out, practically through gritted teeth as she swung her bag up onto her shoulder and turned around in the hopes of spotting Logan and getting up to their rooms already.

Veronica needed to sleep before she did anything else. She had pulled all nighters before, as she had last night, but it always took a couple of days for her body to catch up and for her to feel really comfortable again. Hopefully by tomorrow she would be in a better frame of mind, but right now all the joy from earlier in the day seemed to have easily evaporated and left her feeling drained and somewhat angry.

“Hey, we all booked in?” asked Logan as he suddenly appeared at her side.

Veronica gestured for him to pick up his bags and move, not a word leaving her lips as they headed to the elevator and went inside. The doors closed with a clunk and Veronica hit the number for the correct floor with some force, making Logan almost physically wince.

“Okay, just a hunch,” he said, looking to the blonde. “Are you pissed off about something?” he asked her.

“No.” She sighed heavily, though Logan looked less than convinced when they reached their floor and Veronica looked no happier and had not said another word to him yet.

“Veronica?” he tried again, even as she opened up the door to her room and he hung around outside the next one.

“I’m sorry, Logan,” she apologised with a sigh, putting a hand to her now-aching head. “It’s just... it’s been kind of a long couple of days.”

“And here was me thinking we’d had fun today,” he said with a sad smile that only served to make Veronica feel worse.

“I know, and we did,” she promised him, “but I need more sleep than I’ve had is all.” She forced a smile, knowing there was much more to it than that but also that she couldn’t say a word about any of it to him.

For what was most definitely not the first time on this trip, Veronica Mars wondered what she had let herself in for with this crazy adventure into the unknown with the rich-boy son of two moviestars. She could have been relaxing on a vacation spent with her Dad, putting her feet up and enjoying a break. Of course if she told the truth, the idea didn’t so much appeal as this kind of adventure, except for the seeing her father part perhaps.

At last, Veronica and Logan wished each other goodnight and went their separate ways. On the other side of their respective doors at last, they relaxed, almost simultaneously allowing themselves to flop backwards onto their beds, though of course they had no idea what each other were doing right now.

For Logan this whole thing felt very strange and yet he could not shake the smile that seemed to be permanently at his lips. Laying there on the bed, his hand behind his head, he stared up at the ceiling, still grinning as he thought about Veronica. She wasn’t like any other woman he ever met, though she was equally as hot and probably far more intelligent than most of them. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was he liked so much about her, probably it had to do with the fact she seemed to know her own mind so well, she didn’t take crap from anyone, and very little seemed to bother her at all. She had no idea who he was, and yet they were fast friends, in the space of just two days. She was letting him share her vacation and they were having a blast already. Logan so wanted to show Veronica how grateful he was and yet she had refused every gift he offered.

The smile on his lips only growing wider, Logan reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the plastic ring that resided there. He had spotted the machine right outside of the hotel doors. Meant for kids, of course, it was basically a vending machine full of cheap moulded plastic junk that was far too over-priced, and yet Logan couldn’t help himself. He’d selected the most ridiculous pink glitter filled ring with a huge flower on top and bought it especially for Veronica. Now he had it, he knew he would feel dumb just trying to hand it to her, but that was okay, he had another idea.

Getting up off the bed, he moved over to the en suite and put an ear to the door. No sound at all suggested Veronica wasn’t in there yet and so he quickly slipped inside, putting the ring on the vanity unit. Of course, she may just think it had been left there by the last user of the room or the cleaning staff or some such so he really should leave a note...

Thinking fast, Logan hurried back into his hotel room and rifled through the drawer in the locker by the bed. As he suspected a hotel pen and a little notepad resided there and he hastily wrote a note, rolling it up much like a cigarette and going back to the bathroom. He was just finished pushing the note through the ring, making it look kind of like a napkin through a holder, when he heard Veronica coming. The door to his room must have barely closed when hers opened and she never suspected he had ever been there as she wandered into the bathroom in her hotel-issue bathrobe, a towel over her arm and a wash bag dangling from her fingers.

Mindful of the fact she was sharing with Logan, she walked directly to the other door and tapped on it, telling him she was in there and would let him know when she was done. He replied that was fine and Veronica hopped straight in the shower.

It was some time later when she emerged in a haze of steam and a cloud of strawberry shampoo, one towel wrapped around her body and a second on her head. She moved towards the sink and peered at herself in the mirror, not thrilled by the dark circles appearing under her eyes or the scars on her body that were revealed at times like this. It was something and nothing in her line of work, just scratches really, borne out of struggles with various perps and all. Still, she could use the world not seeing them and asking questions, and the world very definitely included both Logan and her father.

Glancing down Veronica began to frown when she spotted what seemed to be a piece of rolled up paper by the basin, held closed by what appeared to be a child’s plastic ring. She half wondered if it was something left behind by the previous users of the room, but couldn’t be sure until she slipped the note from its place and read the hastily scrawled words written there.

_Veronica,  
I couldn’t just not buy you anything today, so here’s a gift maybe you will accept.  
Thanks for letting me come along on this trip with you.  
Logan_

Veronica couldn’t help but giggle at the ridiculousness of this whole thing. She could have let Logan buy her a real gift, but more than ever she was glad right now that she hadn’t done so. Holding the over-sized pink ring into the light and letting the silver speckles of glitter sparkle and flash, it was the most precious thing anybody had ever given to her. Hardly any money spent and yet so much thought had been there, he wanted so badly to make it known how important this trip was with her. In a frantic bid to just show his gratitude, Logan had desperately sought out one gift Veronica would find hard to refuse, a simple little trinket of little or no real value, but that would always mean something to her now.

Sliding the flower ring onto her finger, Veronica found herself grinning like an idiot as she moved back across the bathroom to the adjoining bedroom door. A light tap on the wood and then she eased the door open, peering inside. She found Logan laid out on the bed, apparently asleep. She thought about waking him for all of three seconds before she realised how peaceful he looked, and she just couldn’t disturb that.

“Thank you, Logan,” she whispered, still smiling as she closed the door again and went back to her own room.

The second the Veronica was gone, Logan opened his eyes, a grin on his face fit to rival her own. He knew he’d done the right thing and he was pleased to know it. It hadn’t really occurred to him until today that gifts didn’t always have to cost a fortune to mean something, and that you didn’t necessarily have to know a person more than a couple of days to realise how special they were.

“You’re welcome, Veronica.”


	7. Chapter 7

Veronica Mars stood in the entrance hall to the hotel in which she had slept last night. This morning felt a whole lot brighter than yesterday evening had done when she was over-tired and entirely stressed out by the situation she found herself in. Of course she hadn’t so much found herself in the situation as she had put herself in it, offering to play bodyguard and baby-sitter to a runaway teen who could no longer stand the jail-like conditions of his rich and plentiful lifestyle. A challenge was not always a bad thing and there were definite upsides to this adventure vacation she was currently sharing with Logan Echolls. Unfortunately, there were also downsides for Veronica, like being tailed by her ex and his buddy in their capacity as the Echolls security men, and practically having to keep Logan on a leash to prevent him causing or getting into trouble.

Right now he was at least in view, right outside the hotel using an ATM. He needed to draw out money to pay his half of the hotel bill, though Veronica had insisted she was quite happy to pay it all herself. He wouldn’t hear of it and had gone out to the machine just as soon as they got down into the foyer to fetch his necessary money.

Veronica was glad she could see him else she might’ve been worried by how long he was gone. A simple transaction like getting money out of the machine should only take a couple of minutes and yet it was already more than five and Logan appeared to be punching the wall...

“That can’t be good,” said Veronica with a frown, just about to go and see what was up, when Logan suddenly came storming back in with a face like thunder. “What’s going on?” she asked him as he reached her side, slamming his hand angrily against the counter top of the Reception desk.

“The ATM ate my card!” he complained, perhaps a little too loudly as he spun around and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I can’t believe that, I had enough money in the account, my dad must’ve moved it,” he said definitely.

“I thought your parents were cool with you taking this trip?” said Veronica still wearing a frown that required no acting - she was genuinely confused at this point.

Last she heard Aaron and Lynn Echolls had agreed to let Logan run around a while, get this whole thing out of system or whatever. They were supposed to trust her, with the safety net of Leo and Sachs, to keep their son safe. She couldn’t think what might’ve changed.

“One thing about my dad,” said Logan with a wry smile. “He lies like a pro. Daddy Dearest really is a hell of an actor,” he muttered the last part under his breath and of course Veronica knew why, though she just pretended not to hear.

“Well, I can pay for our rooms, if it helps,” she said kindly, already handing over her credit card to the girl behind the desk who stood waiting to make the final transition. “Hey,” she said, putting a hand to Logan’s arm in hopes of being comforting in some way. “You okay?” she checked.

“Sure.” He smiled though the expression seemed less than genuine to the young woman trained to spot a liar at fifty paces. “Honestly, Veronica, I’m just... I guess it’s always disappointing to be reminded how much my father doesn’t trust me.”

Veronica opened her mouth to say something kind in the hopes of making him feel better when the girl behind the Reception desk, who bore a name tag that said ‘Hannah’, interrupted them.

“Um, excuse me, Miss,” She smiled politely. “Your card has been declined.”

“Declined?” said Veronica looking confused, sharing a look with Logan then that seriously made her wonder if Aaron had decided enough was enough and cut off her funding too. “I don’t understand.”

“Today is the first day of July,” Hannah helpfully pointed out, her finger showing Veronica the Expiry Date on her card that was clearly June.

“Oh, great,” said the blonde with a sigh, rifling around for cash she already knew she was likely not going to find.

A lot of her money had already got blown on gas and the last motel. She had intended to be staying with her Dad and making minimal purchases on her vacation. When she started this crazy trip with Logan, her credit card was the back up plan. Now there was no back up and she was seriously wondering how they were even going to pay for this night in a hotel nevermind whatever came next.

Thinking fast, she forced a sob that took very little acting, grabbing a hold of Logan’s arm and leaning into his shoulder. Instinctively, his other arm went around her and he ducked down to her level, concerned something as really wrong.

“Just follow my lead,” she said quickly and quietly when she’d got his attention, then turned back to Hannah showing signs of teariness. “Please, you have to take pity on us,” she urged the girl. “We can’t go back.”

“Go back?” the poor girl looked entirely confused as her eyes moved from Veronica to Logan and back.

“Our parents don’t understand,” Veronica cried, acting like a pro and astonishing her accomplice so much he almost forgot he was supposed to be backing her up, until she squeezed his hand in hers a little too hard and made him wince.

“Yeah, we had to run away to be together,” he told the bemused Receptionist. “Our folks just tried to tear us apart... y’know they want her to marry this other guy and, and I just couldn’t let that happen,” he said, turning to Veronica with such a passion in his eyes, there was no doubting he was the son of movie actors.

“He’s my world,” she said, gazing up at her man. “And I would rather die than live without him,” she sobbed, praying that Hannah’s eyes were still on them, that she was buying this over-acted Romeo & Juliet -esque scene.

“Wow,” the girl gasped. “Well, er, I can’t just let you not pay,” she said, trying to be sympathetic, “but maybe if I get my Supervisor, there might be something she can do,” she said gesturing into the office behind her where she had to go to fetch said Supervisor, the fake couple assumed.

“Oh my God,” said Logan with a grin as he turned to look at Veronica the moment they were alone. “You are amazing.” He laughed, almost unable to believe that they might actually get away with this.

“Not so bad yourself, Romeo,” she joked, both realising at the same time that they were still holding hands even now.

It made them both feel strange for a few seconds, before they were forced to resume their act as Hannah returned to the desk with her Supervisor in tow.

“These are the guests, Miss Mackenzie,” the girl explained, and Veronica’s eyes went wide as saucers as she realised who ‘Miss Mackenzie’ really was.

Logan was of course oblivious to the fact that these two knew each other and neither said a word about it as Hannah was dubbed unneeded and sent away. The brunette behind the desk hammered away on the computer in front of her, apparently not caring to hear the sob story that Veronica and Logan had been spinning. In fact, it seemed so strange that he was about to ask what was going on when the woman glanced up and shot them both a smile.

“Okay, all fixed,” she told the would-be couple. “Your rooms have been paid for.”

“What?” asked Logan with a frown. “Did I turn over two pages at once?”

“Veronica and I go back a ways,” said Miss Mackenzie. “To the high school years.”

“Logan, this is Mac.” Veronica grinned, happy to be recognised on this one occasion when usually she preferred to be completely undercover in all things. “We were friends back in high school like she said and she’s kind of a computer whiz, but that doesn’t-”

“Explain why I just got your rooms paid for, on paper at least.” Mac rolled her eyes. “The hotel won’t be down any cash and I won’t get in trouble,” she assured them, “but you’re in a jam and you needed a hand. It’s what we always did for each other, right?”

“You always had my back, Q,” joked Veronica, the way she had so often years ago when they attended high school together.

“Happy to be of service, Bond,” her old friend smiled, as Logan looked between the pair, feeling like he’d missed a joke somewhere, but at the same time just as glad to be out of the mess they had somehow gotten into.

It didn’t occur to him of course that Mac knew more about their situation than she was saying. She wasn’t as oblivious to Veronica’s chosen career path as Logan was, and was pretty sure this whole thing was either a scam to catch the boy or to keep him safe. Either way, she knew she had to help, it was what they always did for each other, just like she’d said.

“Oh my God!” a gasp from across the entrance hall had everyone’s attention in a second, as a couple of teenage girls pointed in Logan’s direction.

He knew without question that they knew who he was and that was bad. Not only did that compromise him for the press spotting him or whatever, but it also it might give his identity away to Veronica and her friend. He didn’t know the little blonde was in on the secret and he planned to keep her out of the loop. Grabbing up her hand he attempted to drag her away from the desk.

“We need to go,” he said with urgency and Veronica nodded he was right.

“Go unlock the car, pull around back,” she told him, tossing the keys into his hands. “I’ll be right there with the bags,” she promised, watching him pelt over to the side exit and out into the street. “Mac,” she said then, turning back to her friend. “The two guys staying in the room opposite mine and Logan’s? I need them slowed down,” she explained. “Any chance of one last favour?” she practically begged as she gathered up hers and Logan’s belongings and began backing towards the door.

“You got it.” Mac nodded, giving a thumbs up that had Veronica grinning as she made her hasty exit at last.

Honestly, she didn’t know why she was doing this. Giving the back up security the slip was practically suicidal but she so wanted to get away for real. D’Amato was becoming a thorn in her side, and he and Sachs had the potential to ruin everything if they were allowed to get too close. Logan was smart enough he was likely to realise they were being tailed before long. Besides, given the stunt they just pulled and the fact his father was trying to cut this whole trip short by any means possible, Veronica was determined to make this adventure last as long as she could for Logan as the net slowly closed in around them.

The rush of being on the run was exhilarating, and Logan seemed to be feeling it too as Veronica flung their bags into the back seat, hopped in through the passenger door and barely got it closed before Logan put his foot down and sped off down the street.

Back at the hotel, Sachs rushed to the front desk, desperate to get the room he and D’Amato had stayed in paid for whilst his buddy started checking all the exits for which way Veronica and Logan might’ve gone.

Mac brought up the details on the computer and realised these were the guys she was supposed to stall. With a smile she was trying to hide, she told the one man, and then the other whom she was pretty sure Veronica used to date, that there was a slight problem with their payment method. Oh, she was going to enjoy this just a little too much...


	8. Chapter 8

Both Veronica and Logan had been pretty quiet as they set about fleeing from the hotel they had stayed at the night before. Out of town and onto the highway, she knew they couldn’t stop for a good long while if they wanted to give the agents following the slip. Logan had no idea about that of course, all he knew was he was out-running some rabid fan and at the same time hoping to get out of reach of his father’s control still.

It was a ridiculous situation the pair had found themselves in. He trying to get away from the parents that spoilt him with gifts but cared nothing for spending any time with him. She was hoping to bring some freedom to a guy she was secretly connected to, though he had no clue who she really was. Thinking about all this, coupled with the shock as she realised quite what she and Logan were doing right now, Veronica suddenly lost control and burst out in a fit of crazy laughter that made her friend react with surprise.

“What?” he asked, smiling slightly because he just couldn’t help it, but on the inside wondering if she was about to tell himself something awful, like she had been playing him from the start maybe.

“I’m sorry,” said Veronica waving a hand in front of her face as she tried to get her breath back and calm down. “Oh God,” she gasped as she wiped tears from her eyes, trying to keep this mornings hastily applied make up from running down her cheeks. “I just... I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she said, swallowing hard as she finally came back to reality after her outburst that must have seemed so strange to Logan.

“It’s not exactly how I planned my summer vacation either,” he admitted, letting out a breath he barely knew he’d been holding when she still seemed positive about their crazy adventure together, “but y’know, I’m not sorry I’m doing this with you,” he told her, never taking his eyes off the road.

Veronica smiled, she couldn’t help herself, she was so happy to be here too. She had wondered about her own sanity when she made the decision to skip out of the hotel, asking Mac to stall the back up so they wouldn’t be able to follow. Now she knew she had made the right choice. Logan wanted to break free, his Dad seemed determined to stop him, in spite of saying he was cool with it. Veronica was equally as stubborn as Aaron Echolls, and she was going to see to it that her newest friend got his big adventure that he so craved.

At least a part of the reason why was selfish too. She liked this guy, he was sweet and good fun, and honestly she didn’t want to give up this friendship just yet. It couldn’t last, when all this was over, the truth would out and most likely Logan would be hurt that she’d kept her real identity a secret from him, but at least she could make sure it was all worth it. If they had the best time they could this Summer, maybe he would understand why she had to lie, at least that was what Veronica was telling herself right now.

“So, where are we headed?” asked Logan when the blonde beside him was suddenly too quiet. “I honestly don’t know where this road even goes to,” he said, looking for the next road sign to check.

Veronica took a look around herself and tried to get her bearings. She smiled as she realised she wasn’t half so lost as Logan was, and that she knew how and where they could run to right now.

“Pull into the next gas station,” she said gesturing up ahead to the place she meant. “I have a plan.” She smiled in such a way as to make Logan wonder what she was thinking, as she pulled out her cell and started to dial. “Do you trust me?” she asked Logan, looking across at him quite seriously, waiting for her call to connect.

Logan wasn’t sure why, and maybe it made him the dumbest guy on the planet, but he found the answer to that question came as easy as anything ever had.

“I do.” He nodded simply. “Yeah, I trust you.”

* * *

“We’re gonna have to tell them.” Sachs sighed as they pulled over the car and looked left and right at the junction.

Leo wasn’t happy about it, but he knew his partner was right. Logan and Veronica had pulled one hell of a disappearing act from the hotel, and somehow Leo was pretty sure it was all planned. Sure, they’d gotten held up and Veronica had to make a hasty getaway with the boy wonder, but they were too far away, too well hidden in every possible way. It was a typical Mars move, and Leo was certain that if Veronica didn’t want to be found the likelihood was he stood no chance in tracking her down.

Of course, that meant telling Keith, his boss, plus the Echolls, that the pair had got away from them. That made him and Sachs look incompetent for the second time inside a week, plus Aaron Echolls would be mad as hell, and he really was not the kind of guy you wanted to put in that particular mood.

“Okay.” Leo nodded at length, reaching for his cell. “I guess we have to do this.” He sighed, dialling through to the Echolls house on the Head of Security’s private line.

“Keith Mars,” he said as he picked up the phone.

“Hey, Keith.” Leo smiled into his words in spite of the serious conversation they were about to have. “It’s Leo, we, er... we’re kinda having a problem here,” he explained, wincing by now as he knew what was coming.

“What kinda problem, Leo?” asked his boss, with just a hint of anger and panic both in his tone, after all this could be all their jobs on the line if it got screwed up.

“Well, there were some issues at the hotel,” he went on, glancing at Sachs who had a death-grip on the steering wheel of the car despite the fact they weren’t moving anymore, he was as worried as his partner right now. “The computers went down, we couldn’t pay for the room so they wouldn’t let us leave.”

“Okay, we can figure that out,” said Keith, letting out a breath he barely knew he’d been holding.

“No, we did that,” Leo interrupted. “The hotel is fine it’s just... Well, Veronica and Logan already left and we couldn’t. By the time we got to the car...” his sentence trailed off to nothing as he realised there was simply no way to tell this tale without sounding stupid.

“You lost them,” Keith guessed, the hand not holding the phone receiver going to his forehead as he felt a migraine coming on.

“I’m sorry, Keith, I don’t know how they got away so fast-” his deputy started to ramble but there wasn’t time for such excuses.

“Leo, you know that’s not true,” his boss reminded him, already tapping away on a laptop computer and gesturing for other security men to make various checks in a bid to track down his PI daughter and her moviestars’ son charge down. “We both know how adept Veronica is at this kind of thing, but it’s okay, we’ll handle it,” he assured the guy, mindful of the fact Aaron and Lynn could walk in at any moment and hear this conversation.

Within a few moments, Keith had instructed Sachs and Leo to continue driving in the most likely direction Veronica and Logan would have travelled and hung up the phone. He and the men back at the house would check the surrounding area via cameras, try to track the pair by GPS or similar. There were a hundred and one ways to catch a runaway, this Keith Mars knew for sure. Unfortunately, whilst his daughter was growing up she had learnt about all these many ways at dear old Dad’s knee, and probably had her own plans to evade every single one.

* * *

They were now literally on the run, and as much as Veronica knew there was something very wrong with that, she had a smile on her face as she drove herself and Logan up into the hills. It was crazy how easily he trusted her, and she ought to think he was naive for doing so, but at the same time it was a nice feeling to know that he would put her faith in her like this.

It was dumb and she knew it, running away from the back up like they had, and explaining to Logan why they needed to switch cars at the last garage was not easy. In the end she had gone with the fact her old LeBaron wouldn’t stand up to the task of their adventure and that her friend could bring her something more suitable.

Wallace had been as dubious as anyone about why his friend had called him requesting a hire car in someone else’s name, but he knew of Veronica’s profession and had learnt long ago not to ask questions when she needed a favour. It was a short drive from his home in Neptune to where she and Logan waited at the gas station, but as he arrived he got a surprise on seeing his best friend’s travelling companion.

“That who I think it is?” he asked, nodding his head towards the guy who was pulling a bag from the LeBaron that Wallace would be driving home.

“Could be,” Veronica nodded. “But don’t say anything, please,” she urged him, sure he would comply to her wishes because he always did.

“Hey, you know me, V,” he told her. “Soul of discretion.”

That all happened more than an hour ago now, and Veronica had thanked Wallace profusely, not just for helping her with the car switch but also providing her with as much cash as he could spare. She told him he didn’t have to, they could deal without it, but Wallace just shook his head and refused to take the envelope of bills back from her.

“Cars need gas,” was all he said, as he backed away to the LeBaron and set about driving it home, whilst Veronica climbed into the drivers seat of her new ride, next to Logan who waited for her.

They had quite literally headed for the hills, since Veronica surmised it was the last place D’Amato and Sachs would think to look for them. Camping out in the woods up there wasn’t as dangerous as it seemed, she’d done it a hundred times as a kid with her father. She and Logan would be safe enough until she came up with a better plan at least.

“Somebody seems desperate to get a hold of you,” said Logan, as he heard the familiar buzz of the cell phone Veronica had thrown into the back seat. “You want me to-?”

“No,” she cut him off fast before the question was even asked. “Thanks, but no,” she said more evenly when she realised how sharp she’d been with him. “I’ll check the messages in a minute,” she told him, as they headed on up to a spot that was familiar to her and parked up the car.

Logan was a little surprised to note they had stopped and that Veronica was getting out of the car. He understood when he followed suit and took a look at the view. It seemed as if the world was laid out at their feet. A town in the distance surrounded by fields and farms, a whole mass of different types of people living their different lives, and Veronica and Logan stood above it all, looking out over the land like the Kings of the World.

Veronica retrieved her cell, noted twenty or more messages from her Dad and Leo both with a sigh, and shut the phone off. Right now she could quite happily throw it off the edge of the precipice Logan was stood on, looking out at the world below. She knew she shouldn’t and couldn’t do that, but she was going to leave the damn thing switched off for a while. It was what Logan had done after the first half dozen missed calls from his parents.

“That’s the stuff.” She smiled as she came to stand beside her newest friend, breathing in the sweet fresh air high above the world, gazing out at the incredible view.

“Pretty amazing.” He nodded his agreement, though his eyes had strayed from the panorama before them to Veronica herself.

It was true, she was amazing. He could hardly believe she was helping him escape the world and discover his freedom like this. He’d asked her why she would bother a couple of times but she had waved away his questions and told him she was just out to have fun the same as him. She never once asked why exactly he was running, they didn’t even know each others last names, and yet it didn’t seem to matter at all, especially not now as Veronica fetched a blanket from the car and they sat down together to watch the sunset in the distance.

“You know, I’m glad we didn’t give up back there,” said Veronica, eyes fixed to the sky line and a smile curving her lips. “I thought when the cash got low and everything you might wanna head home.”

“I thought about it,” admitted Logan with a sigh, “but I guess I’m just having too much fun right now,” he said as they both turned their heads at the same moment and shared a grin.

It was the most unlikely friendship, an even unlikelier romance perhaps, and yet it could so easily begin here in the hills, watching the sky fade from blue to orange and pink. They were cut off from the world, relying solely on each other, and as scary as that ought to be, Veronica and Logan had never felt more safe and at home.


	9. Chapter 9

Logan woke with the uncomfortable feeling of cramp in his limbs, and hard ground beneath his back. This was not his bed, this wasn’t even inside a house. It took a while for him to remember what had happened as he opened his eyes to the view of woods on one side and a precipice not to too far away in the other direction.

A smile curved his lips in spite of the fact he was in some pain and almost wishing he was elsewhere. He changed his mind immediately when he turned his head and realised that his lack of comfort was worth every second of being here. At some point his arms had ended up around Veronica who was still there snuggled up beside him in a deep sleep.

She really was beautiful, his very own Sleeping Beauty in this moment. When awake she was adventurous, cunning and clever, sharp-witted and sharp-tongued. These were all things that made him like her anyway, but he couldn’t help but be a man and find her attractive like this too.

Any one of his friends would have said she was a serious hottie and they wouldn’t have been wrong, and yet at the same time she was so cute lying here beside him, it was hard to believe she could be so snarky and sexy with her eyes open. All these things rolled into one was Veronica, who Logan had learnt to love in some strange way in just a few short days together.

The thought occurred then that with one simple move his lips could be on hers and he could be kissing her. She couldn’t protest if she was asleep, though if she awoke at the feeling she was like as not to taser him for being so bold. Maybe she wouldn’t, Logan considered, maybe she’d just kiss him back and their odd friendship would kick up a notch to an unlikely romance. Sure, she was three years older than him, but age didn’t have to matter so much. They were both adults and she never once treated him like a kid, not like everybody else he knew.

With Veronica, Logan was himself, he had a name and an identity. She didn’t know him as Aaron’s son or Lynn’s son, just as Logan and he loved that. He loved this entire trip and all it stood for, and more than that, he was fast starting to realise that he may in fact be falling in love with Veronica.

Throwing caution to the wind, knowing he may never get this chance again, Logan did what he’d been thinking about doing these past few minutes. He reached out tentatively to push stray hair from Veronica’s cheek and then leaned in ever closer to press his lips against her own. The moment lasted all but a few seconds as she began to stir, the contact enough to wake her from her slumber, like the heroine of a fairytale having some kind of spell broken, by what Logan hoped she saw as the dashing prince in all of this.

Opening her eyes to the light of day and the realisation that she was not alone, it took a minute for Veronica’s brain to catch up to her. She sat up quickly, releasing the arm Logan had long since realised was going to be dead awhile. He pulled himself up too, hardly daring to look at her as she pushed her hair from her face and got her bearings.

“Morning, sunshine,” he joked though he glanced at her so briefly she might have wondered if he was even talking to her, if not for the fact they were the only two people here right now.

“I was having the weirdest dream,” said Veronica, staring intently at Logan until he felt that he just had to look back at her. “Logan, did you...?” she began to ask, her fingers going absently to her lips as she thought on the last part of her dream that had seemed so very real.

“Did I, what?” he prompted when she went silent on him, sure he knew what she was going to ask and wishing she just would already so he could deny everything and they could move on.

“Nothing,” she said with a shake of her head as she got herself up from the ground, dusting herself off.

Logan let out a breath he barely knew he’d been holding. He could use Veronica not asking him about that kiss right now, after all, he had no way to explain it. He didn’t want to come off like some freaky pervert who mad moves on women whilst they slept, especially when they were out here all alone and everything. The last thing Logan wanted was for Veronica to get spooked and decide this adventure was very much over; he would hate that. Unfortunately, it seemed that might be out of his control as he heard her gasp behind him and turned to see a cop car pulling up by their own transportation. No strike that, not a cop car, Logan realised, this was a Sheriff.

“Now, what do we have here?” the guy asked as he got out of his vehicle and strode on over to where the supposed young couple stood. “You kids know there’s a law against sleeping in your car up here?”

“We didn’t-” Logan tried to explain, but apparently the law man was not willing to listen, putting up a hand to silence him.

“Save it,” he told him, then turning his head to speak into the radio device attached at his chest. “This is Sheriff Lamb, we’ve got a couple of possible runaways up here in the hills,” he said, at which point Logan and Veronica shared a worried look.

“Please, sir,” the blonde said suddenly, throwing herself into Logan’s side, glad to feel his arm slide naturally around her shoulders. “Please, don’t take us in,” she begged, getting into a real state. “You don’t understand, we had to run, we had no choice,” she told him, and immediately Logan tried to pick up the story they had spun at the hotel the day before.

“It’s true, Sheriff,” he lied almost as well as his partner in crime. “Our families just don’t understand, and I had to be with Veronica, I just had to,” he said with such a passion as she looked up and met his eyes, that the blonde herself almost believed he was in love with her.

“That’s a compelling tale, son,” said the Sheriff, with a roll of his eyes that was almost audible somehow, “but it doesn’t change the fact-”

“We just didn’t have enough money for a hotel room,” Veronica tried, tearing her gaze from Logan’s own a moment to look beseechingly at Lamb. “It was our wedding night,” she flashed the plastic ring she wore in the Sheriff’s face. “We couldn’t even afford a real ring.”

Veronica knew they were fighting a losing battle with this guy. Though she couldn’t imagine he was all that smart (he certainly didn’t look it) he was sharp enough to know he was being fed a fake sob story. How they were going to get out of this, she had no clue, especially since the Sheriff’s next question was likely to be about ID. If he figured out who Logan was, this whole thing would be over, first because the press would have a field day and second because he would no doubt come to realise her true profession.

“It’s okay, Veronica,” said Logan, trying at comforting for either the sake of the character she was playing or the real her, she really couldn’t be sure. “It’ll work out, I promise.”

Sheriff Lamb opened his mouth to say something else then, but never got the chance as a fourth voice broke into the conversation.

“Excuse me, Sheriff, I just-” the man called as he appeared from the edge of the wooded area, looking from the man to the couple and back, his expression shifting. “Sheriff Lamb, thank you so much.” He grinned suddenly moving towards Veronica. “You’ve found my cousin.”

“Mr Kane,” Lamb reacted with evident surprise. “I didn’t... You’re welcome, sir,” he forced a smile as the man he called Mr Kane grabbed a hold of Veronica and hugged her tight.

She was startled but hugged back, unsure what else to do right now as the mysterious Mr Kane whispered in her ear.

“This guy is an ass, I’m here to help,” he said quickly and quietly. “So, I’m Cousin Duncan.”

“Okay,” Veronica muttered a reply as they parted at last. “Duncan, how did you know we were here?” she asked in a normal volume as Logan and Lamb both looked baffled by the turn of events.

“I didn’t,” he told her. “I guess I just got lucky. Y’know Uncle Bob is going out of his mind worrying about you since you ran away with... him,” he said, with a look of apology to Logan since he had no idea of his name.

The poor guy looked genuinely baffled and it occurred to Duncan that maybe he didn’t realise that he was playing a part here. If he didn’t know his runaway girlfriend as well as he thought, maybe he had no idea if Duncan really was her cousin or not. This was going to get out of hand if they didn’t soon get away from the Sheriff, who still didn’t look like he was ready to give in entirely as Duncan turned to face him.

“Sheriff, thank you for your help, but I’ll take it from here,” he told the law man with a gesture of his hand that pretty much said ‘dismissed’. “I’m sure my father will be all the more generous to your department after this.” He smiled.

Veronica made up pleasantries to say to Duncan as out of the corner of her eye she watched Sheriff Lamb give in and go away. She guessed these Kanes must be pretty rich since Duncan’s Dad being generous to the department seemed to mean so much. Right now she didn’t care, she was just glad of the help to get out of a jam.

Once they were sure the Sheriff was gone, Logan looked between Veronica and Duncan, still unsure of what the situation really was here.

“Okay, is he your cousin?” he asked the blonde outright.

“Not that I know of,” Veronica said awkwardly as she moved a little closer to the guy she had faked a marriage too, encouraging his arm around her back. “Thank you for your kindness, sir,” she said, apparently still playing a role even now the man of the law was gone. “Me and my boyfriend... sorry, husband,” she corrected herself as she looked up at Logan with longing and love combined. “We’re having a really rough time right now.”

“I heard a lot of what was said from back there.” Duncan gestured back the way he’d come. “I just thought I could help you out. I mean, we all know what an ass Lamb can be so... Oh, and I’m not some freak out of the woods, in case you were worried,” he added with a nervous laugh when he realised what it might look like. “I just come up here to get away from things sometime, take a walk around, breathe some fresh air.”

“Hey, thanks, man,” said Logan genuinely, offering out a hand to shake. “You really helped us out,” he told him, suddenly realising what a mess they might of been in if not for the help of a stranger, and feeling brave enough to speak now he knew what roles everyone was playing. “You okay, babe?” he asked Veronica, holding her deliberately close and smiling down at her.

“So long as I’m with you, I always am,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes.

This girl was a pro when it came to faking a scene in order to get out of trouble, but Logan didn’t mind at all. Her acting skills, wherever they came from, were proving very useful on this crazy trip. Besides, having her act this way with him, fake or not, was kind of amazing. He never had a woman look at him quite the way Veronica did sometimes, and as much as she had proved to be a fantastic actress, it did make him wonder just how much she was faking, and how much she might actually like him.

“So,” said Duncan, breaking the moment between the supposed happy couple, much to the annoyance of Logan in particular. “You guys seem like you could use a place to go for a while so how about you follow me over to the house?” he gestured into the distance. “Running water, a decent meal. Sound good?”

“It really does,” said Veronica with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair that still had all kinds of crap in it from sleeping on the ground last night, “but we couldn’t-”

“Yes, you could,” their unlikely saviour and newest friend insisted with a grin. “Come on.”

Logan and Veronica shared a look, eventually resulting in both of them deciding at almost the same moment that they may as well take the risk of this guy being genuine. With twin shrugs, they set about packing up their stuff and getting ready to drive off behind the mysterious Duncan Kane to whatever place he called home.


	10. Chapter 10

“Wow,” Veronica’s genuine astonishment meant no acting was required as she and Logan stepped into the house that Duncan Kane called home. “This place is... huge,” she settled on eventually.

Though so many other words were bouncing around in her head right now, she had gone with the most obvious. Veronica was pretty sure her whole apartment would fit in the just the entrance hall of this place, and yet a glance at Logan reminded her he lived in a very different world. This felt more than a little like home to him, she was certain, though she couldn’t say a word. That would not only give the game away about her knowing his identity but also ruin the facade they had in place for Mr Kane.

“I guess it is a little big for just three,” Duncan agreed, “but Mom and Dad like their space and it at least means I can get some privacy from them without too much effort.” He smiled. “Ah, Lesley,” he turned to a maid type person as she appeared through a door and quickly instructed her that he’d brought home some friends that needed a room preparing.

“We don’t want to be any trouble to you, Mr Kane,” said Veronica from the safety of her place under Logan’s arm still, after all, she was supposed to be a nervous little runaway newlywed or whatever.

“Please, call me Duncan,” he insisted. “Mr Kane makes me feel too much like my father, and honestly, I doubt I’m that much older than you,” he explained.

“Thank you, anyway,” said Logan genuinely. “It’s cool that you’d let us into your house and everything.”

“It’s really not a problem,” Duncan assured them, his eyes lingering a little too long on Veronica for Logan’s liking.

Okay, so she wasn’t really his wife or even his girlfriend, but this guy didn’t know that. They were supposed to be newly married, and yet this rich dude look ready to swoop in and take Logan’s girl right out from under him. The base instincts of the caveman came through just as soon as Logan realised what he was seeing in Duncan’s eyes - jealousy and attraction. He wasn’t standing for that, no way.

“The lilac room is being aired, sir,” said Lesley as she appeared on the stairs suddenly to inform Duncan of progress made. “Shall I run a bath for the young lady?” she asked, her eyes shifting between the man of the house and Veronica.

The blonde wasn’t dumb, she’d seen what Logan had spotted too. Duncan liked her looks and though she didn’t think for a moment he was some kind of predator, she was wary of the fact that if she hadn’t made it clear she and Logan were together, he might’ve tried his luck. It was bugging her, that was for sure, maybe even more so than it was bugging Logan, and she aimed to make it very clear that she had no interest at all in Duncan Kane, in spite of his wealth and status and his getting then out of a jam today.

“Well, I’d love a bath, if that’s okay?” she said almost shyly as she looked to the man of the house and he nodded it was fine, her eyes then shifted to Logan’s own as she moved to put her arms around his neck and pushed her body up close to his. “What do you say, honey?” she said in a sultry tone that ought not to be heard outside of a bedroom. “Wanna come scrub my back?” she asked, not entirely surprised that she succeeded in turning him on with such an act but not thinking too much about it as she pulled his head down until his lips met hers and kissed him with a passion.

It was play acting, it didn’t matter much, and his body’s reaction to what she was doing was inconsequential to Veronica. He was a teenage boy after all, it was just what happened when they got up close and personal with girls, it didn’t mean anything in particular. This she told herself, not only about Logan, but then about herself as the moment went on perhaps a little too long. The warm tingly feeling that went right through her being was just a consequence of the acting. They played their roles too well, she’d got lost in a moment, it wasn’t as if she had feelings for Logan, not that kind of feelings anyway, of course not...

“Okay,” said Duncan, feeling more than a little awkward as the couple finally stopped macking in the entrance way of his house but remained close. “Well, Lesley will show you the way and... I’ll make sure someone calls you when lunch is ready.” He smiled awkwardly before walking away.

Veronica grabbed Logan’s hand and practically ran up the stairs with him in tow. Seriously, he didn’t know what to expect when they got where they were going. Either Veronica’s acting skills were Oscar worthy or she felt something real when they kissed. Either way, Logan was impressed right now.

* * *

Neither Logan or Veronica had expected part of this wild adventure of theirs to include staying in a fancy house such as this. She noticed he made no mention of the fact he probably lived in something similar, perhaps even larger and fancier, but that was okay. On her part, it didn’t take much acting to look impressed by all the finery. It was a good long while since she’d been inside a house this grand and it made a refreshing change from her own modest apartment.

Veronica was pretty sure she could have swum lengths in the tub, though she didn’t bother to try, just took a nice long relaxing soak alone. She had noticed that Logan looked just a little disappointed when they got upstairs and she reminded him they were acting and she wouldn’t need any help in the bathroom. He treated it like a joke, but she suspected that was only to cover for the fact he liked the idea of assisting her a little too much.

Of course, it hadn’t really occurred to Veronica yet that Logan might have any real feelings for her, no more than friendship anyway. Any guy his age would jump at the chance of getting a woman naked, that didn’t mean anything, at least that was what she told herself at the time, and afterwards when she emerged from the bathroom to find the adjoining bedroom that had been assigned to them was decidedly double in nature.

They hadn’t had the conversation about that yet, though it was inevitable. Instead they’d gotten dressed and gone down to have lunch with Duncan, their newest friend. Veronica expected things to get awkward when he started asking questions about where they were from and how they had met and all. She spun tales better than spiders spun webs, but she worried constantly that Logan would say something to mess with her story, or would say nothing and appear suspicious for doing so.

She got a surprise when he joined in easily, tagging his own comments onto her fictional backstory for the two of them. Duncan ate it all up as if it were real, so they must have been playing their parts pretty well. Still, it was a blessed relief when he excused himself, saying he had work to do.

Before departing, he had assured Logan and Veronica they could use any of the facilities of the house they wanted to as guests of his, including the swimming pool, the games room, and so on. It seemed whether they had planned to or not, the fake couple were spending both the rest of the day and the night in the Kane House, because their host just wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Duncan?” Veronica called behind him as he made to leave the dining room. “I’m sorry, but I have to ask,” she said with a nervous smile. “Why are you helping us? I mean, you don’t even know us, we could be anybody.” She shrugged her shoulders, knowing what she said was true, after all they really weren’t what they seemed, not even to each other, nevermind their oblivious new friend.

“Young love needs all the help it can get,” he told her with a smile that appeared decidedly sad to her somehow. “And I guess... well, you remind me a little of my sister, Lilly,” he went on to explain though only briefly. “If she were still alive, I know she would’ve liked you,” he told them, reminding them once again to make use of all the house had to offer and that he’d see them later for dinner.

* * *

“Kind of harsh about Duncan’s sister,” said Logan as he picked up a framed photo from the cabinet in the hallway and stared at it. “She can’t have been very old,” he said, showing Veronica the supposed vacation picture, Duncan with his arm around a pretty blonde on a beach somewhere.

“Bad things happen to good people,” said Veronica too seriously, immediately forcing a smile before Logan asked her to elaborate on what she meant by that - she really couldn’t without revealing way to much about her profession and identify. “Hmm, let’s try door number two,” she picked one out of the row before them, opening up said door to reveal what appeared to be a games room of some kind with a large pool table in the centre. “What do you say, Logan?” she asked as they went inside, her back to the table and hands running along the wooden edge as she challenged him. “Think you can take me?”

Ten different responses ran through the poor guys head that he was pretty sure would get him into all kinds of trouble if he verbalised a single one. She was talking about a game of pool and he knew it, and yet when a hot blonde like Veronica asked a question like that, it was all a teenage boy could do not to just throw her down on the green baise and prove himself to be a man.

“How hard can it be to beat a girl a pool?” he said instead, deciding it might be easier to make her mad at him than continue down the road his vivid imagination was taking, though there was no malice in his remark and it was not taken a such, proven by the smirk on his own lips and the smile that grew on hers.

They both saw this as a challenge, albeit a friendly one, and were soon circling the table in opposite directions, planning their next shot. Logan was gallant and let Veronica go first. It turned out to be a little too kind of him apparently as she proved to be a better pool player than he suspected she would be. She won the first game quite easily, it seemed, and not content with being brought down by anyone, much less a woman, Logan demanded a rematch. The blonde agreed, though she knew she was running almost entirely on luck. One of her ex’s had taught her the finer points of the game, but she and Troy had been several years ago and since then Veronica hadn’t really played a whole lot of pool.

Leaning over the table to make an awkward shot, she jumped a little when she felt a hand on her back, but stopped herself from reacting as she usually would to being snuck up on. After all, it was just Logan, he didn’t mean any harm, in fact it seemed he was trying to be helpful.

“You’re never going to get it like that,” he advised, leaning over her to reposition her arms and the cue in her hands. “Aim to the left some more,” he told her, helping her to line up the shot and staying with her as she made it, the ball sailing effortlessly into the pocket on the other side of the table.

“Thanks.” Veronica smiled, just a little uncomfortable about him being so very much in her personal space.

What confused her was why he hadn’t moved yet, though when she turned her head and found his face right in front of hers, strangely she didn’t mind so much. She didn’t feel threatened or in any way pinned down, in spite of the fact she practically was. Logan was a nice guy, her instincts told her that and she’d learnt to trust those. Unfortunately, a voice in the back of her head was soon reminding Veronica that whilst she could probably trust him, he should not be believing in her at all.

“Logan, what are you doing?” she breathed, wondering why her own voice sounded so oddly quiet to her own ears.

“I know this is all acting,” he told her, looking too serious for this to end well, “but, Veronica, I just wanted to-”

It was as far as Logan got with whatever it was he wanted to say, as suddenly he found his arms holding on tight to Veronica.

She all but threw herself into his embrace, her lips on his in one very hot kiss. Sure, he wanted to kiss her, he was about to tell her that all this play acting at being a couple was driving him crazy because he really liked her and all he wanted was to get close to her for real. It seemed she might feel the same, Logan realised, as Veronica’s tongue slipped into his mouth. She was just starting to make him lose his grip on reality, and then she was gone.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said a voice from the doorway at the same moment, though in his heady daze of lust, Logan honestly couldn’t have identified who was there.

Veronica was not similarly afflicted and though she appeared slightly embarrassed by what had just occurred, she was entirely alert still. She accepted Duncan’s apology with ease, hopping down off the edge of the pool table where Logan must have put her a moment before, though he barely remembered it. Apparently dinner was almost ready, and their company was requested. Logan turned around as Veronica followed Duncan out of the room, beckoning for him to follow. He would’ve moved faster if he could, but after that he could use a minute to calm down!

* * *

Logan was pretty quiet throughout dinner. Honestly, he was confused for the most part. He’d been so sure that he and Veronica were just playing parts in all of this, that the whole Romeo & Juliet thing was purely a cover story. Though he had started to realise that his feelings for her might run deeper, it hadn’t really occurred to him she might feel the same, not until today in the games room when, part way into some kind of confession about his own feelings, she had thrown herself all over him. Who knew what might have happened if Duncan hadn’t walked in when he had?

Speaking of the great Mr Kane, he certainly had plenty to talk about to Veronica, wanting to hear about her life to a certain degree, but mostly all for waxing lyrical on his own wonderful life. If he was trying to make Logan jealous, it might have worked. After all, he couldn’t start telling Veronica he too had a house like this with all its facilities and luxuries, not without blowing his cover and risking wrecking this whole trip. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, because he really did, it was only that Logan didn’t want to spoil the developing relationship between them. If she knew he had money and was the son of famous movie stars, it had to change her opinion of him, it just had too.

For herself, Veronica was eager to get out of here. Duncan was sweet in his way, but watching paint dry might actually have been more interesting than listening to him talk. She wasn’t certain whether he was trying to make Logan feel jealous or if he was just this genuine friendly but lonely guy who was glad of some company. Either way, she tried to make it as clear as possible that she was grateful for his help today and happy to be his friend, whilst pushing home the point that she and Logan were for keeps.

It was suprising how easy it was to pretend, and more than once when she looked his way with a smile, eyes sparkling with fun, Veronica had to remind herself that she and Logan were only ever to be friends, probably not even that if and when he found out the truth about her.

It was getting late and she started faking yawns, not that they took much faking given how bored she was fast becoming. Veronica knew she was making problems as big as those she was solving since going up to bed meant facing the issue of her and Logan sharing a room with one bed in it. Still, he understood the way things were, and they had shared a hotel room on their first night together, albeit twin beds were available then. She trusted him, however crazy that was, and besides she had Mr Sparky on standby if it turned out her instincts were wrong - somehow she knew they wouldn’t be.

Everyone having said their goodnights, they retired to their bedrooms. Veronica walked in, followed by Logan, sighing as she looked around the room and made a choice.

“Okay,” she said, pulling the comforter from the bottom of the bed and tossing it towards the couch across the room. “You can take the bed, if you want,” she offered, glancing towards Logan who was smiling in the strangest way.

“That doesn’t sound all that chivalrous on my part,” he told her, as she turned her back on him to reach for a couple of the many pillows at the head of the bed. “Besides, I was thinking... maybe we’d share?” he said as he reached for her, just at the moment Veronica turned around.

Her eyes widened when she realised his shirt was already off, a wall of tanned muscle greeting her as she gazed at him. It was reason enough to swallow hard before she could speak.

“Logan, please tell me this is a joke?” she checked, chuckling nervously under his intense gaze that never wavered.

“I’m not laughing,” he told her, his hands going to her shoulders as he pulled her in closer and put his lips to hers.

It wasn’t like before when she’d kissed him, all passion and lust. This was sweet and tender, a little tentative like he was testing out if it was okay. Veronica knew she should stop him right now and tell him he was crazy, but it felt too good. The boy could kiss, she had to admit that and for a moment she let herself just fall into the moment without a thought in her head. When his hands crept down her body and prised her shirt free from her pants, his fingers brushing over her skin pulled her free from a moments madness and Veronica slipped out of his embrace fast.

“No, this is not happening,” she said as she put a few paces of distance between them, very deliberately tucking her shirt back in. “Logan, you can’t just... We’re not really a couple,” she reminded him, perhaps a little too harshly. “It’s just acting for Duncan’s sake.”

“Duncan wasn’t even there before,” he argued, feeling mostly embarrassed right now and covering for it with anger. “When you threw yourself at me by the pool table?” he reminded her, when she continued to look at him with incredularity written on her features.

“Logan,” she sighed, running a hand back through her hair. “He was there, or he was about to be,” she explained the situation she had hoped he already understood. “I heard Duncan coming and I needed to stop you from talking about how we were faking our relationship,” she told him, feeling kind of bad that she may have inadvertently duped him somehow. “It didn’t mean anything,” she ended much more quietly than she’d begun, hoping to avoid an argument and yet bracing herself in anticipation of one anyway, just in case.

“Okay, that is bull!” yelled Logan, making Veronica glad she had been half expecting it as he pointed an angry finger her way. “You felt something, I know you did,” he implored her to admit it, but there was no way she was going to.

“No, I didn’t,” she all but exploded, knowing she had to make this very clear to him. “For God sakes, Logan, you’re just a kid!”

The moment the words were out of her mouth, Veronica regretted them. It wasn’t fair to treat him that way, to put him down like that, and she knew it. Once it was said nothing could take back those words or mend the look of hurt that had settled in his eyes. Her hand went to her mouth as if she was trying to ensure no further hurtful words spilled out, but it didn’t matter now, it was all too late.

“Logan, I-” she began, almost too quietly to be heard even though she had moved her hand from her face.

“Thanks, Veronica,” he cut her off with a nod and a sad smile, as he pulled his top back over his head. “You really know how to make a guy feel special,” he told her, sarcasm evident as he brushed past her, gathering up the blanket and pillows she had been going to use and storming out, slamming the door behind him.

Veronica consider going after him but couldn’t imagine for a moment it’d do any good. She really hadn’t meant to hurt him, but by the same token she also knew she couldn’t lead him on. Letting them have anything more than friendship would be irresponsible at best. Of course, the biggest problem in all this was that her lies were catching up to her. She could pretend to be Logan’s girlfriend, wife, whatever and quite easily fool a hotel receptionist or Duncan, maybe even the Sheriff. What was becoming harder to fake was the way she acted towards Logan in moments of truth. They were supposed to be friends and she was supposed to mean it when she said she felt nothing more than that for him, but it wasn’t true. When they kissed in the games room, she had felt way more than she should have done if she were really acting, and just now when Logan had made a move for real, it took every bit of strength she had to say no.

“What’ve you gotten yourself into, Veronica?” she asked herself in a whisper, sitting down on the edge of the bed, a hand to her head as it began to ache.

This whole trip was turning into a disaster.


	11. Chapter 11

Logan had the good sense to come back to the room he and Veronica were meant to be sharing around dawn. Duncan and his staff never suspected they hadn’t spent the night together, and that was the plan. After all, their cover story would be pretty blown if people realised they had spent the night apart. Some newlyweds they would be if that were true!

They stayed long enough to eat breakfast, but that was all. Every time Veronica tried to talk to Logan, to tell him she was sorry for what she said, he just shied away. In front of Duncan he played his part because he had to, but there was no way they could stay here any longer. Their host would get suspicious before long and for good reason, besides, Veronica couldn’t see any point in them continuing this trip anymore, not when things were so awkward between her and Logan. She planned to tell him as much as they thanked Duncan for his kindness one more time and headed for their car.

“Y’know, I think maybe you guys should head home,” he said sagely, as if he were much older and wiser than the couple he was talking too. “It’s obvious you two love each other, I’m sure your folks would come around if you explained.”

Logan gave Veronica a look at that particular remark, opening his mouth as if to say something, though her glare silenced him a second later.

“I don’t know, Duncan,” she said, still looking at Logan even as she spoke to the other guy. “Some people won’t listen, no matter how much you try to explain... or apologise,” she said pointedly, before finally climbing into the drivers seat of the car.

Logan’s eyes shifted from the blonde only briefly as he shot a salute-type wave at Duncan and dropped into the passenger seat of the car, slamming the door after him. He stared straight ahead and waited for Veronica to pull away, her words still echoing in his head, both from now and from last night. They were a good few miles from the Kane house before either of them spoke again.

“Logan.” Veronica sighed, unable to let this deafening silence go on any longer. “Can we please just talk about what happened?” she urged him, glancing from the road to his face and back.

“What exactly is there to talk about, Veronica?” he asked her snippily. “Besides, why would you even want to talk to me at all? I’m just a kid, remember?” he said, voice icy enough to make frosticles on the inside of the windshield, Veronica was certain of it and almost surprised she didn’t see them forming right there and then.

“I didn’t mean that the way it came out,” she tried to tell him, though she was pretty sure it was no use.

Logan had turned almost completely sideways in his seat, refusing to look at her at all, his eyes fixed on the scenery flashing by. It wasn’t long before he had earphones attached to his cell that was flipped to the music player setting and stopped listening to her completely.

Veronica sighed. She hated this, hated that she ever started this whole adventure with Logan. She shouldn’t have let him into her car that first night, she shouldn’t have offered to take him on some whacky Summer Holiday style trip like this, and she certainly shouldn’t have given the back-up the slip. Her Dad was going to go crazy when he caught up to her, and she knew he would have to eventually. God only knew what the Echolls were going to say either, they might even try to fire her father over this and that thought added to everything else just made Veronica feel ten times worse.

Beside her, Logan was trying not to notice how she looked sad or maybe even upset. He wasn’t supposed to care if she was hurting, after all, as childish as it sounded, she hurt him first. He wasn’t completely naive, just because he was a couple of years younger than her. He knew what he felt for Veronica and he also knew that she felt it too. It wasn’t like he never kissed a girl before, hell, he wasn’t even a virgin though the few sexual encounters he’d had so far hadn’t exactly been what anyone would call special. Logan had thought last night would change things, that he and Veronica would be together in some real way. Right now, it felt like there was miles between them, in spite of the fact she was right there next to him.

The display on his cell phone flashed then, and Logan’s eyes shifted to look at the words that had appeared, telling him he had a new text message. What made him frown a little was that this particular message wasn’t another one from his parents trying to chase him down, but from Dick Casablancas.

‘Yo dude, wot u did iz 2 kewlm’ he read from the screen. ‘On the run jst lik u now. Wanna meet up?’

Logan spared Veronica a brief glance, before re-reading the message and trying to keep the smile from his face. If she really didn’t want him around, he was free to go do whatever the hell he wanted and with a friend who got that he wanted to be young, free, and easy right now. Apparently Veronica only liked him so much, if what she said last night was to be believed. Cutting lose with a guy friend could be cool, going out and seeing what other babes were on offer. His grin was even more difficult to hide when he realised he even had the perfect place to meet up with his almost-friend, Dick. The concert tickets he’d won on the radio show, they were still in his wallet, he’d spotted them when they were at the Kane house. Had last night gone well, he had planned on asking Veronica to go with him to see his favourite band, but now he wasn’t so willing to ask her anything.

“I need to fill up before we go any further,” she said, tapping Logan on the leg to make sure he was paying attention as she pulled into the gas station.

“Fine,” he said shortly, pulling the headphones from his ears and getting out of the car when she did. “Nature’s calling anyway,” he told Veronica as he wandered away.

She let out a huff of a sigh as she set about pumping gas into the car. Logan couldn’t exactly come to much harm in the bathroom right around the corner, at least she hoped not. In any case, she couldn’t exactly follow him without looking like a completely perverse weirdo.

Of course, she had no idea that Logan had no intention of using the bathroom at all. Around the corner of the building, and therefore out of sight and earshot of his travel buddy, Logan hit call back off Dick’s text message and waited impatiently for the guy to pick up.

“Echolls, my man!” the blond greeted him with words that sounded as if they were being grinned into. “How cool is this ‘man on the run’ thing?” he chuckled in Logan’s ear.

“It’s pretty cool, Dick,” he agreed with a smile. “Listen, meeting up sounds good. I got these concert tickets for two days time. We could meet there, rock out, whatever.”

“Awesome!” was Dick’s response, over enthusiastic as ever, as Logan gave him the details of time and location and such.

A smirk had settled on Logan’s face by the time he hung up from the call, and he headed back round the building to meet Veronica. She looked as if she’d like to ask him what was so funny, but the question never left her lips. Maybe she knew he was going to blow her off before long, right now he couldn’t care much. She clearly didn’t get how much she hurt him last night. Maybe she just liked being an ice queen, pretending she didn’t care about anybody, but right now Logan only knew about the pain she’d caused him in particular. What he didn’t seem to realise was that this sulky behaviour was only reinforcing the idea already in Veronica’s head that in many ways he was still a kid, no matter how much of a man he believed himself to be.

* * *

“You sure this is the place?” asked Sachs as he and D’Amato got out of the car, looking around at the large house that dominated their view.

“It’s the address the boss tracked the car to,” he said, taking off his shades as they headed up the gravel path.

Honestly, Leo wasn’t so sure what they were going to find here. Keith Mars was the very best at what he did, only rivalled by his daughter, Veronica. This whole thing had become a Mars v Mars battle of wits, with himself and Sachs caught in the middle. It was perhaps the last place Leo wanted to be right now, but he had no choice if he wanted to keep his job.

How Keith had figured out Veronica had switched cars, he couldn’t conceive, though he figured the guy just knew which contacts his dear daughter was likely to call in a crisis. She was playing the mother of all games with everybody here, running out on the back-up just to prove that she could, Leo surmised. Now she and her charge, Logan Echolls, were supposed to be at this particular house. If they’d split before the security guards ever arrived, Leo was not going to be surprised.

Ringing the doorbell brought a maid to them immediately, and a flash of their ID soon got them an audience with Mr Duncan Kane, the son of the rich family who owned this fancy homestead.

“Gentlemen, what can I do for you?” he asked, looking genuine enough.

“Sorry to disturb you, sir,” said Sachs with the usual good helping of respect. “We were wondering if you’d seen either of these people,” he asked, handing over photographs of Logan and Veronica.

Leo and Keith had both agreed asking for the pair by name would be fairly pointless. Veronica character-acted too well and aliases came to her as easy as swimming was to fish. Given Logan’s inherited acting talent, coupled with his partner-in-crime’s own skills, it was likely they had given false names when they stayed here, if they stayed here.

“Oh, the newlyweds.” Duncan smiled as he looked at the two pictures in is hands, apparently not noticing as Leo and Sachs both had trouble not letting their jaws hit the marble floor in shock. “They were here yesterday, stayed overnight, and left early this morning. I did tell them they should head home, that their families would be worried.”

“I’m sorry, newlyweds?” Leo echoed, unable to shake the look of shock from his face.

“Yeah, they said they got married,” said Duncan looking dubiously between the two men. “Did you not know that?”

“Now what do we do?” Sachs asked his partner who waved a hand for him to be quiet whilst he tried to think.

“Er, excuse me a minute, I just gotta make a call.” He forced a smile as he walked across the foyer, pulled out his cell phone and dialled Veronica’s number.

It was unlikely she was going to pick up, even though he was using a different cell that she wouldn’t recognise the number of, but he had to try. Surely she and Logan Echolls hadn’t really got married, it had to be just another scam she was pulling, but then this was Veronica Mars they were talking about, which pretty much meant anything was possible.

* * *

“Logan? Logan?!” said Veronica for the fourth time, smacking him across the knee to make him pay attention, struggling to concentrate on driving at this point.

“What?!” he yelled back at her, rubbing his leg where she’d struck him with one hand and pulling his headphones from his ears with the other.

“I need you to take over driving for a while,” she told him as calmly as she could. “Not that I know where we headed right now, but... I can’t concentrate anymore,” she admitted, hating that she was giving in to anything be it a person or an intangible thing like the need to sleep.

Unfortunately, having not got much in the way of rest last night thanks to her fight with Logan that left her head spinning with too many thoughts, too many hours on the road were taking their toll much faster than they should.

“Then find a hotel and sleep it off.” He shrugged. “I don’t want to drive today.”

“Oh good, more proof of your childish behaviour,” she snapped at him for his ridiculous attitude. “Because that’s really helping a lot,” she said sarcastically, pulling over to the side of the road before they both got into full argument mode and crashed the car or something.

“Stop playing the high and mighty, Veronica,” he told her crossly. “You’re three years older than me, not thirty, and don’t pretend you know anything about my life, because you don’t!” he yelled, yanking open the passenger side door and climbing out, slamming it shut behind him.

Veronica growled with frustration as she followed him out of the car, storming after him as he hiked down the grass verge at the side of the road.

“Hey,” she called, grabbing hold of his arm as soon as he was within reach and spinning him around. “I said I was sorry for last night, I never meant to hurt you,” she told him once again, “but-”

“But what, Veronica?” he urged her to explain, seeing her resolve softening some and meaning to make the most of it.

“But... things are complicated,” she admitted, starting to feel defeated as she pushed her hair back off her face. “Logan, it’s not that I don’t like you,” she admitted however dumb she was for doing so, but she needed him to understand. “I do, it’s just...”

“What?” he prompted the moment she paused. “Tell me. C’mon, Veronica, explain to me what the problem is,” he said, perhaps more loudly than was necessary.

Veronica fought for the right words to say. She couldn’t like Logan, it wasn’t sensible and wouldn’t help, and yet she found it impossible to help it. He was right, he wasn’t so much younger than her to make it inappropriate or wrong for them to be together, if it was what they both wanted. He clearly liked her a lot and she had to admit if only to herself that she could easily feel the same. Unfortunately, what she’d told him about things being complicated was also true. He wasn’t supposed to be a friend much less a lover, he was just a case to work on, a job, for lack of a better word. He had become so much more than that and the longer things went on, the more Veronica realised what a fool she had been to start this so-called adventure in the first place.

‘Saved by the bell,’ she thought to herself as her cell phone rang in her pocket. She had it turned off most of the time, knowing her Dad would doubtless be able to track them down with it on. This morning she had started to wonder if that would be such a bad thing and never bothered to switch the phone off again after checking the credit and battery levels.

“Unknown number?” she said with a frown the moment she saw the screen.

She never got a chance to decide if she was going to answer or not when the cell was unceremoniously ripped from the hand and thrown into the bushes that lined the road-side.

“We were talking!” yelled Logan, an explanation, excuse, and exclamation all rolled into one apparently, though all he’d achieved was to make Veronica angry, not return to their previous conversation at all.

“Are you crazy?” she asked incredulously as she moved to look for her cell, a little panicked at the thought of it being lost or broken - in an emergency she was going to need it.

“Look, I’m sorry,” he immediately apologised somewhere behind her, sounding genuine enough, and yet Veronica couldn’t care.

“You’re sorry, Logan?” she exploded, turning back to glare at him. “Well, believe me, so am I! Right now I’m sorry I ever took this trip with you!” she told him angrily, going right back to looking for her cell.

The blood in her veins felt like it was boiling she was just so mad at Logan, and at herself, truth be told. After all, she was the fool that had let him into her car that first night. She was the idiot who deliberately gave the back-up the slip, ignored calls from her father and the Echolls. Going off grid was pretty stupid, even for Veronica, and the realisation of her own idiocy only made her all the more mad.

“You’re right, Veronica,” said Logan from behind her, though she didn’t turn back to look at him. “This isn’t working out anymore,” he added sadly, just as she found her somewhat broken cell and turned around.

“Logan, I-” she was stunned to realise he was no longer there by the car where she’d left him, but instead she spotted him climbing into some random vehicle that had pulled over on the highway. “Logan!” she called after him, but he didn’t listen.

In seconds he was in the mystery car and gone from her sight.


	12. Chapter 12

Veronica was not happy, although to be fair a lot of her anger was aimed at herself rather than anybody else. Logan had been foolish, diving in some strangers car and heading off into the sunset without her. Of course it was the second time he’d pulled this stunt lately and she couldn’t blame him for thinking it would work out okay, after all, he’d picked exactly the right saviour in her. Now, he could be getting himself into some serious trouble. There was every chance the people who picked him up could ID him as Logan Echolls, son of rich moviestars, and that could easily be used against him. Kidnapped for ransom sounded like a plot from a movie but it did happen, and more often than it should, Veronica knew. She dreaded to think what might happen if Logan was out in the world alone, and she knew that for the most part she was to blame.

This whole trip had been a ridiculous idea from the start and she ought to have known it. Giving the back-up the slip was an even stupider plan, but she couldn’t afford to contact them or her Dad now. If it got back to the Echolls that there son was even more AWOL than they originally thought, out there without even the protection the blonde PI could offer Veronica didn’t like to think what they’d do. Her own father’s job could be in danger, and her own career along with it.

There were too many things to worry about, too many variables Veronica couldn’t control and she hated that. A growling sound emanated from the back of her throat as she was forced to pull up sharply into a queue of traffic a mile long, or so it seemed to the agitated Veronica. She really had to focus, to figure out a way to track where Logan had gone and get there as fast as she could. Then she had some more apologising to do if she was ever going to patch up their pseudo-friendship enough to convince him to let her take him home. This whole thing might’ve been easier if he hadn’t smashed up her cell phone before disappearing into the distance!

* * *

It wasn’t Logan’s finest hour as he dived out of the car at the next gas station promising that when he got back from the bathroom he would pay his share of the gas money. He had no cash on him and since his card got eaten by an ATM two days ago, he was going to have to live by his wits, it seemed. Dodging around the side of the building, he circled around past the men’s bathroom and into the garage’s workshop around back.

“Hey, man, you can’t be in here unless you’re picking up a car,” a mechanic told him crossly.

“Cool down, vato,” he told the Mexican looking dude as he peered around the corner a moment and then went back to standing with his back against the wall. “I just need to hide out for a few minutes then I’ll get out of your way.”

The mechanic, whose coveralls said his name was Weevil, looked suspiciously at the young man stood before him and then moved to look outside. There were two rich-bitch type girls pounding on the bathroom door calling for someone to come out before a guy with them said he was going in to teach some manners to whoever they were looking for. Weevil frowned looking back at the mystery man stood there in the dark and then strolled out of the workshop. For an awful minute, Logan thought his cover was blown and yet could do nothing about it as there was nowhere left to run.

“Hey!” Weevil called to the girls. “You lookin’ for somebody?” he checked. “’Cause there was this young guy just came running by here, headed that way!” he pointed way off into the distance away from the gas station.

In seconds, the girls had their friend out of the bathroom and all three went pelting to the car to chase down whoever it was they were looking for. Weevil had a pretty good idea it was the guy waiting in his workshop and he intended to find out why before he decided what he was going to do next.

“They’re gone,” he said as he wandered back into the garage and slid the door closed, finishing up wiping his hands on the oily rag he was holding and then tossing it aside. “You wanna tell me what kinda trouble you’re in?”

“Where do you want me to start?” Logan sighed, leaning his head back against the wall and turning his eyes heavenward as he breathed a sigh of relief that he’d at least got away from those he had just duped. “Hey, thanks, man,” he said then, looking Weevil’s way, “for not telling them I was in here.”

“No problem to me.” The mechanic shrugged. “You got a name, kid?” he asked then, thinking it was as good a place as any.

“I’m not a kid,” he ground out, a lot more annoyed by that particular word right now than ever before. “I’m Logan,” he admitted, mindful of pissing off the guy that had just helped him out anyway.

“You can call me Weevil. Everyone does.”

Logan nodded as he watched him drop the hood down on the car he’d been working on and head over to a thermos from which he poured out a cup of what smelled like coffee. It wasn’t long before another plastic cup appeared and it was suddenly in Logan’s hand without a word being spoken.

“Thanks,” he muttered, accepting the less than clean cup and wondering what he might catch if he drank out of it.

“You ain’t gonna drink that are ya?” said Weevil with a chuckle as he stared at Logan who in turn stared at the drink with distaste. “Not that I blame you, man,” he said, reaching to take the cup away from him again.

“I can’t afford anything else,” Logan noted with a sigh, but Weevil still took the drink from his hand and poured it straight down the drain.

“That your only problem?” he asked him, as he gestured for the younger man to follow him out of the workshop.

“No,” Logan admitted, not caring to elaborate right now as he followed his newest friend around to a cafe where it seemed the waitresses all knew him - maybe because he worked at the gas station same as they did, but Logan suspected there was more to it than that somehow.

“Park yourself, man, I’ll stand you a coffee, if that’s your poison?” he checked, the waitress he had called over waiting for Logan to sit himself down and give an answer.

“Coffee’s good, thanks.” He smiled politely as the waitress went to fetch the order for them.

“Okay, so lack of cash I get,” said Weevil thoughtfully, “but there’s gotta be more to it than that. I’m guessin’ woman trouble, ‘cause let’s face it, only a woman could get a guy in this much of a mess, right?” He smiled knowingly as Logan looked away, feeling dumb. “C’mon, man, lay it on me. See if old Weevil can’t give you some advice,” he suggested.

Logan wasn’t sure that it was going to do any good, but he had nobody else to talk to about Veronica right now or at all, truth be told. There was no way he was telling this guy the absolute truth, about his parents and running away and everything. He could use their cover story maybe, the one they’d fed Duncan Kane and the hotel staff before. Either way, he figured if he could get some advice from this guy, who looked like he’d walked the world a while in spite of not being so very old, then he was going to take it. There was no-one else to ask, and so long as he kept certain facts to himself, Logan was sure things would be fine.

* * *

Veronica shouldn’t be driving and she knew it. It was telling Logan she needed him to take over a while that had prompted his latest outburst and his running away from her, and that was hours ago. At the next gas station she resolved to pull over, even if it meant sleeping around back in her car for a while, she would do it, she just had to get some rest. Besides, she would need gas soon too, and if she was really lucky the car she saw Logan disappear in would as well. It was a long-shot that his newest friends would need to stop at the same place she did, but it was all Veronica had right now.

A yawn escaped as she checked the sign post up ahead and changed lanes. Not far now until she could stop. Once she’d got some rest, she might be in a better state to work on fixing her cell too, which would help. This thing had gone on too long and she needed to get a hold of her Dad. Maybe if she apologised to him and to the Echolls, things could work out. It wasn’t as if she had anything to lose, Logan was already mad as hell at her. Finding out the truth couldn’t really make things much worse, or so Veronica figured at this point.

Pulling into the next gas station, she got out of the car in front of a little cafe. Coffee was what her body craved, at least at first. Her mind was soon distracted as she reached the door and peered in through the window to see a very familiar figure sat by the counter.

* * *

“And that’s when I jumped cars and left her behind.”

Logan completed his explanation of what had happened with Veronica, and swallowed down the last of his drink as Weevil looked thoughtful.

“That’s a hell of a tale, man,” he told the younger man, realising he had a drop of coffee left too and ought to drink it before it went cold. “Sounds like you had one hell of a woman there too,” he advised.

“Yeah, a woman that thinks I’m a kid,” he complained, kicking at the bar on the stool he was sat on, feeling angry still.

“And what are you doin’ by runnin’ out on the chick, ‘cept proving you’re some kind of Mama’s boy that can’t handle the rejection?” he challenged Logan.

The younger man sat and stared for a minute, his mouth opening and closing three times without sound coming out and making him look like a landed trout. He hated to admit it, but Weevil was right. Yelling and sulking and running away; it was all typical childish behaviour and it had only made Veronica’s case for her where Logan was concerned. He wanted her to look at him and see a man, but he really wasn’t acting like one at all.

“I screwed up... again,” he realised, as Weevil chuckled.

“Don’t sweat it, man, you ain’t the first and you won’t be the last,” his new buddy sympathised, slapping him on the shoulder in a friendly gesture. “Anyway, chances are good you’ll get a second chance with your chica,” he said as he hopped down from his stool, realising he really ought to get back to work.

“How do you know?” asked Logan, as he got up too.

“’Cause from what you was describin’,” said Weevil, gesturing out through the window of the cafe to the garage forecourt beyond, “I think she just showed up,” he said, pointing to where a little blonde had just got out of her car and was approaching the door.

By the time Logan tore his eyes away from Veronica, Weevil was gone, out of the cafe’s side door, having left enough cash for their coffees on the counter. Logan turned his head again and realised that his travel companion must’ve spotted him too as she stopped just inside the door, eyes wide but expression blank for the most part.

They met in the doorway, neither sure what they were supposed to say and therefore saying nothing to start off with. When they finally did speak it was over the top of each other.

“I’m sorry,” they said in unison, quite the feat for the both of them to say and hear.

Veronica smiled at the same time Logan did, gesturing for him to come outside where more privacy existed. The pair sat down on the step together and she sighed.

“Logan-” she began, only to have him interrupt.

“I know I should probably be all chivalrous and let you go first, but I can’t do that.” He shook her head, looking mostly at his hands where they hung between his knees. “I did a dumb thing, running away like a kid.” He sighed, kicking a stone away for something else to do. “Anyway, I’m sorry,” he repeated, sparing her a glance.

“I’m sorry too,” she promised him, her hand landing on his arm to keep his attention when he tried to look away. “Logan, I just want us to be friends, please?”

When his eyes met hers then, he had to believe her. She wanted them to get along and it was what he wanted too. Of course, what he really craved was more than that, for them to be more than friends. Logan still believed that deep down that was what Veronica wanted too, and he couldn’t figure out why she wouldn’t just admit it. Maybe it was the age gap thing, after all it was her nasty barb about his age that had been the straw to break the camels back. Right now he had two choices, he could tell her no, that he didn’t want to be her friend, that she’d had her chance and lost it and walk away in a sulk again like the kid he didn’t want to be. Second choice was to be a man, to accept Veronica’s clearly genuine apology and get on with being her friend and enjoying this vacation while he had the chance. Maybe in time he could prove to her that he was the man she refused to see him as right now.

“I want that too,” he told her at length. “You’re a good friend, Veronica.” He smiled, that being true at least. “But I should tell you, I’m heading out to meet with another friend of mine. I’ve got two tickets to a concert.”

“I’ll drive you,” she offered immediately, as eager for them to patch up their friendship as she was keep him safe as was her original objective. “Or maybe you can drive you, in my car,” she considered, remembering in an instant how tired she felt as she contemplated getting behind the wheel once more. “Even if I can’t see the band, we can ride along together, right?”

Logan nodded his agreement. He wanted her company and besides he had no other transport if he were honest. He could meet Dick at the concert, they’d rock out as promised, and with that guy around, Veronica was bound to see that Logan was way more mature than some other guys his age!

“I’m just gonna use the bathroom,” he said getting up then and moving to walk away.

“Logan?” Veronica immediately called after him as she got up too, dusting off her backside as she did so.

When he looked back, she honestly wasn’t sure what it was she wanted to say but had to find something now he was waiting. The only thing that came to mind spilled out of her mouth unchecked.

“I care about you,” she promised him truthfully and she thought it was a good thing when he smiled, until she heard how he answered her.

“Yeah.” He nodded once. “Just not enough.” He shrugged his shoulders as he turned and walked away.


	13. Chapter 13

Veronica sat in the passenger seat of her car, her broken cell phone in her hands as she attempted to fix the damage done by Logan’s childish tantrum a few hours before. She usually carried a spare, sometimes several untrackable disposables, but she had been intending to spend a vacation with her Dad not take on a new mission of mercy for the son of two movie stars! She had been shockingly under-prepared and she ought to have known it, but as always she had dived in head first without really considering the consequences.

Giving the back up the slip had been far from her finest hour, and Veronica almost wished she had seen Leo and Sachs in the last few hours but she honestly hadn’t, even though she had been regularly and thoroughly checking the rear-view since the Kane house. Still, even her playing runaway with Logan had not been Veronica’s biggest mistake. Nope, she had a whole other thing set aside to be placed in the top spot on her list of stupid things she’d done these past few days. Number one had to be allowing herself to be attracted to Logan Echolls, to the point where she knew if she let herself go she would fall head over heels for the guy.

Veronica meant what she said about Logan being childish at times, because he really was. That was true of so many men she knew and some a whole lot older than her travel buddy. His age didn’t bother her, three years was nothing to anybody these days, but it had been a good excuse when he made his move with her. Veronica couldn’t allow herself to go with what she felt, that was true in so many situations in her life, but none more so than this one. Allowing herself to fall for Logan, to start a relationship that was anything like romantic or sexual would only make things worse later.

If she told him the truth now, it was likely he’d never want to see her again, but they would both survive that pain. If they got in too deep, it made her lies all the worse, and being torn apart later could break them both. She had to keep things between them platonic and hope to salvage some kind of friendship when all this was over, however unlikely it seemed right now. Logan was barely speaking to her as it was and she almost wondered if something awful had happened to him as she checked her watch and realised he’d been gone quite some time for a quick trip to the bathroom.

Just as she was about to panic, she saw the very young man she’d been worried about coming back around the corner... followed by a girl of similar age. They were holding hands and giggling like the school kids they were just slightly too old to be. Veronica was frowning hard by the time they reached the car and she climbed out to meet them.

“I know there are vending machines in the men’s bathroom as well as the girl’s, but I had no idea the things they put in there,” she said with some distaste in her emphasis.

The mystery girl looked at Veronica with a similar amount of disdain, though Logan didn’t seem to notice any tension as he made introductions.

“Veronica Mars, this is Jackie Cook,” he said of the dark-skinned girl at his side. “Jackie, this is Veronica.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” said the newcomer with a look and tone that proved she meant not a word of it.

“Same here, I’m sure,” the blonde replied. “Um, so you made a new friend, in the space of five minutes,” she said, switching her attention back to Logan. “Does this mean...?”

“It means I offered Jackie a ride out of this place,” he explained, grinning too much for Veronica’s liking. “She’s headed for the same concert we are so it made sense.” He shrugged like it was no big deal.

Of course it was a big deal, even though Veronica knew it shouldn’t be. Logan ought to have as many girlfriends as he liked, after all she wasn’t any more than a friend to him, that was the point, but she still felt that terrible stirring in the pit of her stomach, the threat of a green-eyed monster waking up and growling too loudly.

“I can absolutely pay you gas money if that’s the problem,” offered Jackie through a smile Veronica knew was as fake as her own. “Well, that is as soon as we get to an ATM that actually works.” She giggled in such a way as made the blonde want to just scratch her eyes right out.

Then she looked at Logan and the self-satisfied smile on his face. He wanted Veronica to be angry, to get jealous and possessive and make a scene. She was not going to do it, she just wasn’t. She was an adult, a much bigger person than either of these two, and she would behave as such.

“Great,” she said through gritted teeth, gesturing for Logan and Jackie to get in the car so they could get moving, resisting the urge to bang her head against the window, and only just managing it when the new girl spoke next.

“Actually, would you mind if I sat in front, Veronica?” she asked, sweet as cherry pie. “Sometimes I get sick if I have to be in the back.”

Without saying a word, Veronica got out of the passenger side, moving around to the back and sliding in.

“I bet the back seat is just fine when you’re horizontal,” she seethed, sure Jackie didn’t hear her, not caring if Logan had, as she settled herself into her new seat and made further attempts at fixing her cell.

* * *

“C’mon, honey,” said Keith into the still ringing phone as he dialled his daughter’s number one more time.

It was futile and he knew it, but panic was starting to rise up inside him and he couldn’t afford for that to happen. He had a job to do here, to keep the Echolls family safe, and he was failing miserably right now. On top of that, his daughter was missing, and though Veronica was quite adept at getting herself out of trouble just as easily as she got into it most of the time, Keith was still her Dad and therefore still worried about her.

Losing D’Amato and Sachs, that was probably deliberate, for reasons best known to Veronica herself and nobody else. Keith wondered if it had to do with her having dated Leo some time ago. Maybe she was uncomfortable with her tail knowing her so very well, but then he had hoped she would tell him that instead of just running away like a kid.

The door opened just as Keith was hanging up the phone, Veronica’s cell having once again diverted to voicemail which was well and truly full. Aaron was red in the face with boiling anger that didn’t seem to ever dissipate from the moment Logan and Veronica pulled their Bonnie and Clyde act at the motel the day before. Lynn looked nervous and jumpy, and at the same time subdued. Keith had no doubt she was resorting to alcohol and pills to keep her panic at bay and to make her husband’s outburst a little more bearable.

“What’s going on, Keith?!” Aaron demanded to know, slamming a hand onto the table. “Your daughter abducted my son over twenty four hours ago; you’re lucky I haven’t called the police by now!”

“C’mon, Aaron,” the Head of Security tried to placate him. “I hardly think we can call this an abduction,” he said more calmly than he truly felt.

His boss didn’t look at all convinced. Still, Lynn’s hand on his arm and whispers in his ears about just letting Keith do his job seemed to do the trick for once.

“We’ve been trying Logan’s cell as well as Veronica’s, and while neither of them are picking up, we were able to tap into their phone history,” the Head of Security began to explain, with a grateful but small smile in the direction of his employer’s wife. “I can tell you that the last call Logan made was to a Richard Casablancas Jnr,” he read from a piece of paper in front of him.

“Dick Casablancas?” Aaron repeated the name of the boy he knew.

“Yes,” Keith confirmed with a nod. “Now, I called the boy's father and as it turns out, the kid ran away just yesterday, no note left behind, but he did send a message this morning to say he was headed to a concert,” he added, handing over another piece of paper to Aaron with a copy of the message on it.

Lynn read over her husband’s shoulder the two of them looking confused a moment before realisation hit.

“Oh, Aaron. This is the concert Logan won tickets to on that radio show,” she gasped.

“And we said he couldn’t go!” added Aaron with anger evident in his tone, as it so often was, truth be told.

“Then it’s probably exactly where they’re headed,” said Keith, turning to one of his many deputies and preparing to make a plan.

Aaron’s hand on his arm pulled him back around to face him before he had a chance to say a word.

“Then that means you’re going there too, Keith,” he said, cold as ice. “I’ve had enough of this. Your daughter made this mess, and I think its high time you cleaned it up.”

* * *

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but all we have left is one double and one single room,” explained the man behind the desk at the hotel.

Veronica leant on the counter and exhaled too loudly. This trip just got better by the second. After a car trip that went on longer than she felt she could bear, with Logan and Jackie making jokes she didn’t understand and flirting like it was going out of style, they had dragged their asses around every hotel within a five mile radius on the concert venue (or so it had felt!). Everywhere was booked solid, presumably because of the concert as well as the general vacations and such that the Summer always brought. This was the only place to have any space at all that might accommodate three people, and still settling on who would be staying where was going to make life complicated, Veronica just knew it.

“Well, I’m fine with sharing,” said Jackie from somewhere behind her, sidling up to Logan with a seductive kind of a smile on her face.

When Veronica glanced over her shoulder and saw that, she just lost it.

“No,” she snapped with perhaps a little more volume and anger than she’d meant to, since Logan and Jackie both visibly jumped with surprise. “I mean, maybe we could come up with some better arrangement, I...” she stumbled over what she meant to say as she felt two pairs of eyes burning holes into her back when as she turned back to face the hotel clerk. “Are you sure there aren’t any other rooms?” she practically begged him to help her out.

The poor guy was doing his best, of course he was, but Veronica was about to blow a fuse either way. She really couldn’t take much more of this, but was at least a little glad when Jackie excused herself to use the bathroom. Her voice and laugh alone were sending Veronica to crazy-ville!

“So,” said Logan, suddenly behind her at the desk. “I guess you girls wanna share a room, huh?” he checked, leaning on the counter top with a smirk that needed to be wiped off his face. “Maybe braid each others hair, talk nail polish, have a pillow fight?” he suggested with a raised eyebrow that had Veronica seething on the inside.

“Trust me, any fight I have with that girl, would not involve pillows,” she ground out. “Maybe a baseball bat. Maybe piano wire,” she said with a dangerous look as he eyes followed the path Jackie had walked just moments before.

Logan figured she was joking, at least he kind of hoped she was. Another part of him was getting just as annoyed by Jackie and her giggly, flirty behaviour as Veronica was. Of course, if she was getting this crazy over the other woman’s presence, it did at least mean his plan was working. Jealousy was a powerful thing, and he was trying his darndest to use that to his advantage.

“Well, if you don’t want the single, and you don’t want the double with Jackie,” he said with some consideration, as the hotel clerk excused himself to call a supervisor and try and work something out. “Maybe you’re planning on seducing me, Veronica,” he said as he leaned in closer.

“You wish.” She laughed at his gall if nothing else, but apparently it was the wrong thing to do.

Once again, as she ought to have known he would, Logan took her words and attitude as an insult, recoiling immediately as if she’d struck him.

“Fine,” he said sharply. “Then maybe I’ll take Jackie up on her offer and share with her,” he said, turning to walk away.

Veronica immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him back around.

“No, Logan,” she said desperately. “Please, don’t. Not with her,” she urged him.

He met her eyes and knew she was serious, he also thought he knew why but he needed to hear her say it.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t, Veronica,” he said, his tone as much of a challenge as the look on his face as he stared down at her.

“Because I want you to be with me.” The words tumbled out of her mouth without her really thinking about them, and as much as she should regret it, she couldn’t right now. “I’m sorry I lied before but... Logan, I do like you, a lot, more than I should, I just-”

She got no further with whatever it was she was going to say or explain. Logan didn’t need to hear anymore, he just wanted to be close to her. He’d taken enough chances these past few days, one more wouldn’t hurt, or so he told himself as he pulled Veronica to him and kissed her. Though she knew she ought to pull back and tell him no, she just couldn’t do it, not this time, not all over again. Everything was most likely going to get blown to hell one day soon anyway, she may as well make the most of this moment whilst she had it. Life had taught her well that chances were to be grabbed when they came along, because most never came around a second time.

Falling into Logan’s embrace, she allowed herself to dive head-first into this moment, sinking into a kiss that set her whole body on fire. She was a woman of the world, she’d been kissed before, slept with guys before, but even within her frame of reference this felt so good. Days of denying herself, and finally she was being handed the forbidden fruit on a silver platter and it tasted too good to waste.

“Er, ma’am, sir?” said the nervous hotel clerk who had returned unnoticed with two keycards, and was now clearing his throat to gain the couples attention. “These really are the only two rooms we have-”

“We’ll pay in the morning,” said Veronica breathlessly as she broke her kiss with Logan just long enough to grab the keycard for the double room from the counter top.

He was grinning like an idiot as she took a hold of his hand, leading him to the stairs and up to the room they would share tonight. They were kissing again before they ever reached the door, fumbling with the keycard without looking at what they were doing, since staying close, never letting up on each others bodies was more important than anything else.

The practically fell onto the bed in a pile of limbs, a moment spared for almost-nervous laughter until her gaze caught his and everything was serious again in an instant. They wanted this, on some level they had been waiting for this moment since the day they first met. It was like they’d already connected on so many other levels and in such a short space of time. Now only one way remained incomplete.

The mood was broken only once and briefly, as Veronica’s cell phone began to ring in the pocket of her jacket where it lay haphazardly tossed over the end of the bed. Logan wanted her to ignore it, she knew, and she would love to oblige but there was just no way. Wriggling beneath him to get herself across the bed some did nothing to help him, but when he saw her take the cell phone from her pocket, not even checking the screen before she threw it against the wall as hard as she could, he still smiled.

The couple resumed their kissing, fingers seeking out zippers and fasteners, in a desperate attempt to get as close as they could right now. Across the room, the cell phone Veronica had spent all day trying to fix lie broken in three pieces again, one connection severed, even as another was being very deinfitely made.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Veronica woke slowly, her eyes fluttering open as they adjusted to the amount of light in the room. She wondered what time it was, reaching an arm out of the bed towards her watch that was on the nightstand. It blinked at her that it was the wrong side of lunchtime, which meant she had been asleep much longer than she intended. Of course, she had reasons why and couldn’t help but smile as she recalled the main one.

It had been a while for Veronica, a good long time since she’d woken up with a man she really cared about after a night of making love. The feel of his arms around her body, holding her back snugly against his chest was not restrictive or scary to Veronica, in fact it was the most comfortable she had been in years. This was probably why she had found it so easy to sleep on, that together with how tired she was from too much driving and the activities they’d indulged in before sleep claimed them.

Settling her head back on the pillow, she reasoned there was no point waking Logan yet. Eventually they were going to have to have awkward conversations and she could use delaying that a while longer. As she moved to pull her arm back under the covers, she stopped short of bringing her hand in, smiling as she spotted the pink sparkling plastic ring on her finger. The only one it fit comfortably on was the third finger of her left hand, where an engagement ring might’ve resided. It was too ridiculous for words to think about marriage and Logan in the same sentence, since Veronica was already wondering if she was a fool even sleeping with the guy, but she couldn’t help it.

Veronica’s smile grew wider as she felt Logan move behind her, his lips at her shoulder, and then whispering in her ear.

“Morning,” he said softly, only letting up his grip on her enough for her to turn over and look at him.

“Hi,” she said, almost bashfully as she met his eyes. “So... that kind of happened.” She smiled, feeling ridiculously girlish right now.

“Yeah,” he agreed, reaching up to push her hair out of her eyes and gazing into those same hazel orbs. “Any ‘morning after’ regrets?” he asked, all but holding his breath until she answered him.

“Logan,” she whispered. “I couldn’t ever regret what we did,” she promised him. “I mean, it seems crazy, we’ve only known each other a little while but you can’t help who you fall in love with and...” she stopped suddenly as if only now realising what words had escaped her lips.

There wasn’t a second to take them back (not that she would have tried) or even wonder on what his reaction might be, as suddenly Logan’s lips were covering Veronica’s own, clearing her mind of everything else in a heartbeat. He knew better than to think they’d live happily ever after, of course he did, Logan wasn’t as naive as people sometimes thought he was. When the Summer was over, when they were forced to head home and face the real world, this could all be over. That thought scared Logan more than anything else, after everything that had happened, and so he chose not to think about it too much. He had started this trip buy diving head first from one situation to another and so far it had worked out pretty well. Not perfectly perhaps, but where he was now was in no way a place to complain about, as he and Veronica set about reigniting their passion from the night before.

“You know I love you too,” he told Veronica, in between kisses, rolling them both over in the bed a little too far to the point where they nearly fell out.

The moment was broken some as Veronica narrowly avoided hitting her head on the bedside locker, and reacted by busting up laughing. She set Logan off too, though perhaps not as much; at least he still had the ability to speak, whilst she now had her hand over her mouth feeling dumb. To Logan, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“So.” He smiled down at her. “I don’t have to meet Dick for the concert for... hmm, at least five hours,” he said, checking the watch Veronica had left on the night stand. “Now, how are we going to fill the time until then?” he asked, with a look that answered his own question.

Veronica’s laughter died on her lips as she shuddered in the best way, thanks to the intense gaze he had her pinned to the bed with, and the direction in which his fingers were travelling across her skin.

“What about your friend Jackie?” she asked, not quite willing to let that go in spite of the fact she had already admitted to loving this guy.

Logan smirked at her gall, knowing as well as she did that trying to make Veronica jealous with some would-be rich bitch he picked up at the gas station was pretty lame. Still, it had worked out in the end, so he was still kind of proud of that, even if now was not the time to mention it, perhaps.

“Jackie who?” he asked with a shrug as he leant down to capture her lips in a hungry kiss.

Veronica could do nothing but respond favourably, and revel in this day that might yet be her and Logan’s first and last together like this.

* * *

“Hey, babe! Looking good!” Dick was calling out favourable remarks to any girl that so much as looked at him, and a few more besides that turned away in disgust at the sight of the staggering blond with the beer in his hand.

“Hey, Dick!” Logan called as he approached his friend with a smile he couldn’t help.

“Echolls, my man!” the surfer declared as he gave the guy a manly hug. “We are so gonna rock!” he yelled, waving his arm high, hand forming the universal symbol for rock.

Logan let out a long laugh at the behaviour of his buddy. They weren’t exactly close, only met a couple of times, but they were like brothers in arms at this moment. They had both run out on their restrictive rich boy lives and were out here in the real world, finding out what life was really about. The only thing that was bothering Logan was the way Dick was now staring at him as if he had two heads,

“What’s up, Dick?” he checked with a quizzical smile. “I thought we were heading inside... y’know, to rock,” he reminded him, copying his hand gesture from before.

“You totally had sex!” he declared, way too loudly for a public place as girls milled past giggling into their hands.

“Hey, could you yell that a little louder. I don’t think the band actually heard you,” said Logan, trying to be mad at Dick for his outburst but at the same time grinning like an idiot because he knew he was right. “And it’s not as simple as that, man, I mean... y’know I really like this girl.”

“Well, c’mon, man, tell Uncle Dick all about the fine woman that has Logan Echolls falling in lurve!” he urged him.

Across the way, Veronica was oblivious to the fact she was being talked of in such terms. She was leant against the side of her car, wondering what she was going to do next. She could probably find a way into the concert, even without a ticket, but she really wasn’t all that bothered about getting closer to the band she’d never even heard of. She had been playing around with her cell, but it still refused to work at all, the blow it took when hitting the bedroom wall last night seemed to have been the final nail in its electronic coffin. It was then she looked up and her eyes flitted to a bank of payphones.

“C’mon, Veronica,” she said to herself, knowing there was really only one choice she could make here.

As much as she loved Logan, and she knew now that she really did, they couldn’t be on the run forever. Eventually, they both had to go home, Logan most especially since he’d never survive like this too much longer. Besides, Veronica knew both her father and the Echolls would be going crazy now after so long without contact. She hadn’t seen Sachs and D’Amato since she and Logan gave them the slip back at the hotel, so it was likely they’d never caught up - she would’ve seen them by now if they had.

Pushing off the car, she started moving through the crowds of people, towards the payphones. She almost made it when she lost her footing and stumbled into another woman coming the other way, the contents of the brunette’s bag rolling all over the concrete.

“I’m so sorry,” said Veronica, immediately crouching down to help pick up the fallen items, not the traditional lipstick and perfume she would expect to find in another woman’s purse, but instead recording devices, hard drives, a taser, pens and notebooks. “Mac?” she realised as she glanced from the contents of the fallen bag into her friends smiling face.

“Hey, Veronica.” She grinned back, a little stunned to see her too but none the less pleased. “What are you doing here?” she wondered, as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder.

“I gave Logan a ride to the concert,” the blonde explained. “It’s not really my idea of fun.”

“Oh, really? ’Cause these guys kind of rock actually,” she explained, showing off the T-shirt she wore with the bands emblem across it, clearly proving she was a fan. “So, Logan really is a friend or...?” she asked curiously, knowing it was none of her business but intrigued as ever by the blonde’s schemes.

Nothing was ever quite what it seemed with her friend Veronica, either back in high school or now it seemed. The fact they’d run into each other twice in the past few days after years of little to no contact might’ve seemed strange with anybody else, but Mac stopped being surprised by Veronica Mars long ago.

“A little more than friends,” she explained, close to blushing which was odd in itself for her. “Mac, I think I screwed up, in fact, I know I screwed up.” She sighed, putting a hand to her head. “Logan is the son of Aaron and Lynn Echolls,” she told her as quietly as she could, mindful of being overheard but having to speak up a little else never be understood over the crwods and the noise from the concert that would be starting imminently.

“The movie stars?” Mac’s eyes went wide as saucers at the information she was being given. “Geez, even I’ve heard of them,” she admitted, proving just how well know they must be since Mac was hardly a reader of gossip magazines and the like.

She had assumed from the start that Veronica & Logan’s Romeo & Juliet tale at the hotel was bogus, but she’d just assumed the guy was either a mark or a client in trouble. It never would have occurred to her that Veronica was on the run with the son of two world-renowned moviestars. This was big even for her, especially since it seemed they were, as she’d put it, more than friends.

“My dad is their security guy,” she explained some more. “I was on my way for a visit when Logan bolted and the next thing you know he’s in my car and-”

“And you guys are on the run together,” said Mac, finishing off the explanation succinctly as Veronica looked close to breaking down - this whole thing had been so stressful, in spite of the fun she’d had in between.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Mac,” she said sadly. “I was just trying to help some guy get a little freedom, I didn’t mean to fall for him,” she explained.

“So, Logan doesn’t even realise you know who he really is? Nevermind that your dad is his parents security?” gasped her friend, exactly at the wrong moment, it seemed.

“He does now,” said the man himself from behind the two women, and Veronica felt sick as she turned to look up at his face that showed anger, sadness, and betrayal all in one.

“Logan,” she began, but it was already clear he wasn’t going to listen.

“You knew who I was from the start?!” he yelled too loudly. “You set me up?!”

“No!” she protested. “I mean, I did know, but it’s not how it looks, I swear-” she said, reaching for his arm but he ripped it out of her grasp, backing up a step.

“You lied to me, Veronica!” he exploded. “What else is there to say?!” he asked, though apparently didn’t want an answer as he turned and walked hastily away, tears threatening in his eyes that only made him more mad.

Immediately Veronica made to go after him, hampered a little by a blond guy that she might’ve correctly guessed was Logan’s buddy Dick, had she not been so preoccupied right now. As it was, he was quite happy for the little blonde to rush past him, but quickly intercepted Mac when she made to follow.

“Hey, hot stuff,” he greeted her with a grin and a look that was clearly supposed to make her weak at the knees.

“Seriously?” she said as she looked up at him. “Does now look like a good time for a lame come on?” she asked, rolling her eyes as she went around him the other way to catch up to Veronica and Logan.

“Logan, please!” Veronica called as she chased after him, realising her mistake too late as other people turned to see what all the fuss was about.

“Oh my God, it’s Logan Echolls!” yelled a girl to her friend, and before anyone had a chance to react, cameras were going off at an alarming rate, too many people rushing for a glimpse of the celebrity.

Mac and Dick were too late to be of any use and Veronica was soon being pushed aside by the clammering boys and girls all wanting to get close to the famous Logan Echolls. He was panicking and she knew it, but she couldn’t help him, as questions were fired at him and people started getting pushy and angry when others got in their way. The situation escalated to near-riot proportions within a minute, but just as fast the cavalry arrived.

Veronica turned around as she heared a familiar voice shout for order.

“Dad!” she called, running to him, barely noticing that Leo and Sachs were there too and already pushing through the crowd of screaming fans with relative ease.

“It’s okay, Veronica,” Keith promised his daughter, pausing just a moment to hug her. “We’re gonna take care of this,” he told her before heading off in the direction of the crowd to extricate the son of his bosses.

It wasn’t long before the three security men were bundling Logan into an armoured car as Veronica rushed to talk to him before he disappeared out of her life, possibly forever.

“Logan, I never meant to-” she tried to say as he moved to close the car door.

“Stay the hell away from me, Veronica!” he shot nastily before the metal and tinted glass came between them for what might have been the final time.

That was when it all got the better of Veronica. She usually held it all together so well, but right now she just couldn’t. After so many days that had stretched into weeks of mixed emotions and stressing out and falling in love, it all hit her at once in this moment of craziness. Tears streamed down her face as she yelled for Logan to please let her explain, and Keith’s heart broke knowing that as much as he wanted to be of some comfort to his little girl right now, he had to do his job first.

“Mac?” he called to the girl he recognised easily from years before. “Can you take care of my daughter for me, please?”

“Yes, sir.” She nodded once as she put her arms around her friend and pulled her clear of the car that had to leave.

“I’ll call you,” Keith promised Veronica as he got into the drivers seat, checked he wasn’t going to run over any crazy fans and drove away.

Veronica was still crying hard into Mac’s shoulder even after the car was long gone and the crowds of people dispersed into the concert they had originally come to see. The two women remained there in the parking lot, unnoticed now by most who passed by, except for one man who was far too interested to just walk away.

“So, are you single?” Dick asked Mac, apparently oblivious to her look of incredulity as he added. “Can I get your phone number?”


	15. Chapter 15

“You’re going down, man!” said the voice in Logan’s ear.

“Not. A. Chance.” he replied succinctly, dispatching his opponents’ soldiers on the computer screen with relative ease and three shots that matched his words.

It was a victory, but a hollow one, as the guys around the world who he’d been playing against cursed colourfully in more than one language and soon offlined. Logan liked winning, and yet as he pulled off his headset and watched the screen change telling him of his triumph, he barely smiled.

This was not the highlight of his Summer, far from it. He’d had all the highs and these were the lows that followed, no matter how many games he won. Logan was back to being locked up in his ivory tower and the princess who rescued him for a brief while was gone, banished from the kingdom. Not that she was ever really a princess, not that Logan was really a prince either, and besides he was far too old for fairytales.

It had felt like a story book though, for a while. Like some kind of adventure novel where he could pick his own destiny. Logan was allowed to forget for a while that he was the son of two movie stars, that he had few friends, and even fewer that were true and honest.

Veronica was so different to anyone he ever met, Logan thought, not for the first time as he lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. She was a force to be reckoned with, that was for sure, and as wild and adventurous as anything. Now he knew why she wasn’t afraid of trouble, she’d seen enough of it if she was the daughter of Keith Mars. He ought to have remembered the name of the head of security’s only child, he had heard about her before, but not often enough for it to really stick in his mind.

Now every thought of the beautiful blonde spitfire that had made the first half of his Summer so great, was tinged with the darkness of betrayal. She’d lied to him from day one. She must have known he was Logan Echolls and why he was running towards her car that night. She knew about the back up following them, and if Leo D’Amato was to be believed, she knew him very well indeed. Logan felt like such a fool, not least because he was actually stupid enough to believe that Veronica liked him.

All that time he’d spent trying to make her see he was a man, not a boy. Convincing her that what he felt for her was deep and real. Now he wanted to wish it all away, pretend he never cared, make believe she never existed in his life at all, but it couldn’t be done. As mad as he wanted to be at her for hurting him, there was a corner of both his heart and mind that still cared about Veronica, still missed her, and could not truly regret the time they spent together.

He got just a couple of weeks of running around, and one night spent in heaven with a woman he could honestly say he both loved and hated in equal measure right now. It looked as if he was back where he started, ending the Summer as it had begun, but that wasn’t true. Before, he wanted to see what lie beyond his window, and now he knew that whilst there was adventure, fun, and love out there, freedom did come at a price. He had discovered betrayal and pain, and heartbreak, if he were completely honest with himself.

A tapping on the door was very nearly met with a nasty threat of what would happen if the person on the other side didn’t get lost. Logan was glad his reflexes weren’t so sharp when he glanced up and saw his Mom was peering in at him now.

“Hey, sweetheart.” She smiled a little, as if testing the waters as she slipped inside her son’s bedroom and closed the door behind her. “How are you doing today?” she asked awkwardly.

Logan sighed, not sure how to answer. He loved that his Mom cared, of course he did, but they didn’t talk like this all that much. She was often so busy being famous, out with his Dad and having little time to spare. She tried, Logan knew she did, and had been trying even harder since he got back from his impromptu-vacation. It didn’t change much though, because there was nothing she could say to make him feel any better, he was certain of it.

“I’m... I don’t honestly know what I am,” he said, sitting himself up on the end of the bed as Lynn joined him. “I mean, what are you supposed to feel when somebody you thought really liked you just flat out lied to your face?” he asked, as if genuinely curious.

“Oh, honey,” said Lynn, feeling terrible for her baby boy. “The first time it happens is always the hardest,” she sympathised, recalling her own teenage years, heartbreaks she thought she would never recover from.

It wasn’t easy being that age, whether you were a boy or a girl. Everything seemed like the start or end of the world. A new relationship was an adventure, the end of the same could seem like a dark cloud descending over the entire world, never to lift again. It was difficult for Lynn as a parent to explain that everything would be okay, firstly because she couldn’t guarantee it, and second because she was certain Logan wouldn’t believe her anyway.

“How does a person do that, Mom?” he asked, though mostly he was looking at the carpet rather than at Lynn, as she rubbed her hand on his back comfortingly. “I mean, she acted like she loved me or something,” he said vaguely, less than comfortable explaining to his mother just exactly the nature of the relationship he and Veronica had shared.

“Maybe that’s because she does love you, Logan,” Lynn suggested, as her son scoffed. “No, hear me out,” she urged him, even as he got up and walked across the room to the window. “You know, people make mistakes, baby. All people. Sometimes we do what we think is best and it turns out that maybe it wasn’t,” she explained as best she could. “Veronica is not a bad person, she just made a bad decision”

The worst part for Logan was knowing his Mom had a point. He’d like to put all this on Veronica, make it all her fault, but maybe it wasn’t completely. Regardless of what she did and didn’t know about him, she had let him dive in her car that night, she had kept his real identity secret for him, and allowed him to have the adventure she knew he craved.

It had taken a lot of running on his part to get her to admit any feelings for him, and now he was wondering if he knew the reason why. Maybe she wanted to keep her distance because she knew that last day had to come, the day when he found out the truth. It might’ve been easier on both of them if they hadn’t fallen in love, but as it was Logan had been left with a broken heart and for the first time now he was realising, maybe Veronica was hurting just the same.

“I guess we all make mistakes,” he said softly, so much so that Lynn almost didn’t hear him.

“Of course we do, honey,” she agreed with a nod as he turned back to glance at her, finding she was by the door and about to leave. “It would be a little childish to mark Veronica as the devil just because she made one bad choice,” she told him, and then she was gone.

Logan’s eyes returned to the view from the window as he let out a long breath. He thought he had been a fool for letting Veronica get close to him, never realising she was not all she seemed. Now he wondered if it wasn’t being mad at her and letting her drop clean out of his life this way didn’t make him a bigger idiot than ever. Still, forgiving her wasn’t as easy as he almost wished it was.

* * *

Veronica stamped another file as ‘case closed’ and moved it to the other side of her desk before picking up the next folder full of paperwork with a sigh. Taking a vacation had seemed like a really good idea at the time. Of course, a couple of weeks staying with her Dad could have been more relaxing than almost as long on the run with the renegade son of two movie-stars. Still, she would have come back to more work than she would have liked anyway. As it was she had the stack of work, a pile of guilt, and a lot of memories that wouldn’t leave her be on top of that.

It was fine, she could do her job. She had suffered no injuries and made no major mistakes since she’d been back at her office, doing the work she loved. The trouble was, Veronica knew she was distracted and had to make such a concerted effort to keep her focus. She couldn’t help but think about Logan Echolls and what he could have meant to her, what he did mean to her, even though it would probably be best for both of them if she just forgot all about him.

Unfortunately, forgetting wasn’t easy, and from experience Veronica knew that forgiving was even harder sometimes. She so wished she’d had a chance to explain herself properly to Logan before all hell had broken loose that night at the concert. He never did get to hear her side of the story, at least not first hand. She had faith in her Dad to put forward her side if he could, but it wasn’t the same. Even Keith didn’t know all the details, had no idea how much Veronica really cared for Logan.

It was such a short relationship, barely two weeks from first meeting to the night they were torn apart. So much had happened in that time, this major connection that Veronica couldn’t ever imagine going away. She had been right in the first place, she shouldn’t have let herself and Logan get in so deep, it only made the break up that much more painful, but she just couldn’t help herself. Making love with him had been amazing. He wasn’t the most experienced guy she’d ever been with, but that really hadn’t mattered. Veronica wasn’t sure she’d ever felt like this about another man, and he had proven himself to be all man in the end.

With such things occupying her mind, Veronica found herself to be quite startled when the phone started up ringing beside her on the desk. Shaking herself from her hazy daze, she reached to answer the call.

“Mars Investigations,” she said into the receiver, getting a further surprise when she realised the person on the other end of the line was far from a client.

“Hey, Veronica, it’s Mac,” she greeted her friend, causing the blonde to smile.

“Hi,” she replied, asking how she was doing and the other usual pleasantries.

One good thing to come out of all this was the reunion of the two high school buddies who had been out of each others circle of friend too long. Now they were in regular contact via email and phone, with visits due to be arranged before long as well.

“I’m good, I guess,” Mac told her friend. “Dick Casablancas is still calling me pretty much every day.” She laughed lightly, something Veronica wasn’t quite sure how to react too.

“Wow, the boy is persistent,” she said, sitting back in her desk chair, the light catching on the pink plastic flower ring on her finger and taking her attention.

“I know, and I only gave him my number to get rid of him that day,” Mac went on to explain. “Still, he seems like a pretty nice guy, and I guess the fact he’s still trying to get a date with me should say something about his tenacity, if not his brains. I think maybe ‘dumb blond’ was invented for him, but that’s not really his fault...”

Mac rattled on a while longer, until she realised she had received no answer or comment in quite a while. She called Veronica’s name and heard only a murmured conformation she’d been heard. Something was clearly on her mind, and Mac intended to find out what.

“So I’m thinking of letting Dick come over to my place,” she said as seriously as she could manage. “Not for a date or anything, just for really dirty, dirty sex.”

“What?!” Veronica snapped her attention to the phone at the sound of those very un-Mac-like words in her ear.

“I thought that might get your attention.” The computer geek chuckled. “Seriously, Veronica, what’s up?” she asked, amused by her own joke but still entirely worried about her friend and what might be on her mind.

“I don’t know, Mac.” She sighed in response. “Or I do, but it’s dumb. How can I be in love with a guy I knew barely two weeks, who’s eighteen years old, and who probably hates me right now?” she asked in earnest.

Mac felt terrible for her friend, but hardly knew what to say. She didn’t understand this any better than Veronica herself, but she did know unrequited love and broken hearts completely sucked.

“Love is not rational, my friend,” she reminded her with sage wisdom. “Did you try calling Logan to apologise again and explain?” she ventured, sure that someone like Veronica was sure to have done so, several times over.

“I tried, but nobody at that house will put my call through,” she admitted. “My ad did his best to make Logan see I’m sorry and that I had good reasons but.. I can’t ask him to push it. He barely kept his job as it was because of what I did.”

Mac was silent on the other end of the line. She would love to tell her friend it was all going to be okay, that it could still work out in the end, but honestly, she wasn’t so sure it was the truth at this point.


	16. Chapter 16

It was normal for the refrigerator of any house to be stocked full of goodies at Christmas time, and yet Logan was finding a very poor selection here. Maybe the problem was that he didn’t know what he wanted anyway, or that he wasn’t really looking, just staring into the empty space before him as he was want to do these days. His mind had been a lot more prone to wandering since the Summer, and everyone knew why, though nobody ever spoke of it.

“What are you...? Oh,” Keith stopped short of getting mad at the possible intruder when the young man of the house pulled his head out of the appliance and looked his way. “Hello, Logan,” he greeted him with an awkward smile now. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect to see you here,” he explained, as Logan shut the fridge door, and started looking through the cupboards instead. “Your parents left days ago for their Christmas break, they told me you were staying with friends.”

“Yeah, well, that kinda fell through,” the younger man admitted, pulling a bag of cookies out and contemplating them. “Besides, I’d rather be here, even if that means mostly alone.” He smiled slightly as he pulled up a stool at the counter and parked himself, munching on Pepperidge Farm’s finest.

“Most of the staff are off too, given that Aaron and Lynn expected the house to be empty,” said Keith, taking the seat that Logan gestured to then, apparently offering him to join him and have a cookie as well. “Thanks,” he said as he took a chocolate chip treat from the bag.

“I’m a big boy, I think I can take care of myself for the most part,” Logan assured him, not clear whether he was joking or too serious.

Keith would have asked, if not for the fact he was being very careful not to overstep his bounds here. He always got along with the kid, though they didn’t’ exactly chat so much. Now they had the strangest connection via Veronica, and yet she was rarely mentioned between them, or anywhere in the house. Keith had tried several times to apologise on his daughters behalf and beg forgiveness for her, after all, he knew she was just trying to do her best by Logan. It hadn’t turned out well, but that was true of so many situations that begin with good intentions.

“How’s college treating you?” asked Keith conversationally. “Your dad seemed pretty psyched about your predicted grades.”

“Yeah, it’s okay.” He shrugged non-committedly. “Some of the frat guys try to lead me astray, but I’m not really much for the partying lately.” He sighed.

The Head of Security wasn’t really quite sure what to say to that. He was actually glad that the good kid he’d watched grow from boy to man wasn’t getting into any trouble. Still, it sounded like a pretty boring existence for him at the college if he wasn’t enjoying his free time at all. Keith never got the opportunity to probe further as Logan changed the subject.

“What about you, Mr Mars?” asked Logan as he swung a leg down off the stool and headed back to the refrigerator for milk to help his cookies down. “You headed home for the Holidays?” he checked.

Keith noticed he never looked at him the whole time he spoke, and he knew why that was. This wasn’t about his plans for Christmas so much as it was about where Veronica might be or what she would be doing. That told Keith what he was pretty sure he already knew, that Logan had real feelings for his baby girl, perhaps as real as those she had for him. Veronica was a tough young woman and had tried to pretend she was okay after the events of the Summer, she had certainly hidden her heartbreak well for everyone else’s benefit, but there was no concealing such things from a parent, at least not a good one like Keith Mars.

“I am headed home, yes,” he told Logan with a nod. “Veronica and I always make time in our schedules for each other at Christmas, it’s important to us.”

“That’s great.” Logan nodded with a hint of bitterness or perhaps sarcasm, it was hard to tell with him sometimes.

Clearly he wished his folks cared as much about him, and at the same time he was carrying around the burden of his feelings for Veronica that had never been fully dealt with. Yes, she hurt him, but she regretted it terribly. Apologies didn’t fix a broken heart, but neither did burying feelings so deep they couldn’t be easily seen on the surface.

“Y’know, I probably shouldn’t say this, and I know you’ve heard it all before,” said Keith, contemplating the half a cookie still in his hand, “but Veronica really never meant to hurt you this summer, Logan,” he told him one more time. “I know she would love the opportunity to apologise to you herself, if you’d just take her call or-”

“I know she’s sorry,” he cut in, without caring if it was rude or whatever. “I know she was trying to do what she thought was right, and... and I’m sorry too, for being the kid she accused me of being and not giving her a chance to explain.” He smiled at the irony.

All the time spent trying to prove he was an adult, having finally achieved such a thing, only to unequivocally prove that he was capable of behaving just like a child. Running and hiding, refusing to hear reason, apology, or anything.

“Well, maybe one day,” said Keith quietly as he got up from his seat and turned to leave.

He made it as far as the kitchen door when Logan called out his name, causing him to turn back with a curious expression.

“You think you could do me a favour?” he asked, looking the older man in the eye this time.

“Sure,” the security man agreed easily. “What is it?”

* * *

Christmas always made Veronica happy. No matter how crappy things had been going, how busy work was, or how depressing her life seemed, a few fairy lights and a little cheer was bound to make her smile. This year was no different, as she reminded herself that some things were more important than anything she was going through, and her life was pretty damn good anyway. Her Dad was on his way over and they were going to spend a whole week together, which hadn’t happened in too many months. She was looking forward to that a lot. Of course, remembering why she hadn’t spent her usual Summer break with her father only led to Veronica thinking on things that made her much less happy.

Logan Echolls; that name had been on her mind an awful lot these past few months. She tried her best to move on and put him out of her head after an initial few weeks of phone calls and messages when she was trying to apologise and all. Veronica knew she just had to forget him, but it wasn’t so easy, especially not now as she rifled through her jewellery box for the bracelet she wanted and instead came across a familiar pink ring. The silver glitter embedded in the plastic caught the light in the bedroom and brought a sad smile to Veronica’s lips. As dumb as it was, she found herself slipping the ring onto the finger where it had lived for the time she was on the run with Logan. It never failed to feel comfortable there, as if it belonged, which was crazy and she knew it, but Veronica just couldn’t help herself.

Lost in thought, she was startled enough to physically jump when a knock came at the front door. It had to be her Dad and that idea did at least make the blonde smile as she checked her hair in the mirror and hurried to let her father in. She had dressed up some for the occasion, wanting to look her best when her Dad saw her, if only so he wouldn’t worry she was still being mopey and sad over Logan. Of course, that’s exactly what she had been much of the time, but she’d be better, she really would.

“Hey, Dad.” She smiled as she opened the door to him and immediately reached out for a hug. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” he greeted her with a kiss on her cheek. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good,” she assured him, though the smile she gave him still wasn’t reaching her eyes, he noted as he looked at her.

“Well, you might be even better in a minute,” he told her, his own grin refusing to shift as he got in the way of her closing the door. “I have your gift right here.”

“A pony?!” she squealed, jumping and clapping like a giddy child, in true form of the joke they’d had running since she was a kid.

“Not quite.” Keith smiled as he stepped out of the front door and gestured for something or someone perhaps to come forward.

Veronica’s mouth dropped open wide when she realised who was stood before her now.

“Logan,” she gasped, as he stood there in the porch light smiling at her.

“Merry Christmas, Veronica,” her father said softly, patting her on the shoulder and then squeezing by her in the doorway. “I’m just going to take my bags and... yeah,” he retreated to the spare bedroom, sure nobody was listening to him by now anyway.

Logan and Veronica seemed completely hypnotised by each others presence, even though she was usually so quick to adapt and he knew this moment was coming. It took almost a full two minutes before she remembered her manners and invited him inside, but barely a few seconds after that for her to give in and reach out to hug him. It was awkward at first, but in spite of everything else, it was clear he had missed her as much as she missed him. They clung to each other a while, loving the familiar feeling of being close, reliving the joy and warmth of their Summer vacation spent together.

“I am so glad you’re here,” she admitted as they let go of each other at last, both a little reluctant still. “Logan, I have to tell you how sorry I am for-”

“I know,” he cut in, one of the few people brave enough to interrupt Veronica Mars when she was in full flow. “I know you were just doing what you thought was right and for the best.” He shook her head, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear, just so he could touch her again. “And y’know I’m sorry too,” he told her honestly. “I could’ve handled it better, I know”

“Whatever else happened, Logan, you have to know that I... I did love you,” she confessed. “I still do, and I know that probably sounds crazy but...”

This time when her sentence was interrupted, it was not by words from Logan’s lips, but rather his lips themselves landing on top of hers in a kiss that took her breath away. Her arms wound around his neck, holding him close as the moment went on, the kiss deepening until they had to part for lack of breath.

“Veronica,” he said breathlessly, hands holding her at the waist as he leant his forehead against her own. “I love you too, I never meant to but... you drew me in, Miss Mars,” he told her with a smile he could not help.

She giggled at his phrasing but equally as much at the name he used for her. He knew who she was now, her real name, and everything else would follow. She wanted them to know each other so well and be so close. This had to work out, because the pain she had suffered when they were apart, the hurt he must have gone though because of her actions, it all had to be for something. They had to get the happy part of their relationship back now, they just had to.

“So, what happens now?” she asked him, almost afraid of the answer somehow, after all the problems they had already encountered.

“I don’t know exactly,” Logan admitted with a sigh, “but I do know that I want this, Veronica, I want you and me to be together, for now and... well, for as long as we can stand to be around each other,” he joked.

“Sounds good to me.” She nodded, pulling him into another kiss, her hands at his face causing him to notice something that was enough for him to actually break this moment.

“You still have this,” he said as they parted some and his hand held onto hers, showing Veronica the ring on her finger, the silly plastic item he had bought her outside the hotel from which they had first truly gone on the run.

“I couldn’t let go,” she admitted with a shrug. “I don’t ever want to.” She shook her head.

A moment later and they were kissing again, unaware that Keith was peeking around the door to see what was going on. He couldn’t help but smile at the scene before him, two of his favourite people making each other so happy. He couldn’t help but think he’d done pretty good bringing Logan here to Veronica for the holiday season.

“Merry Christmas to all,” he said softly to himself, “and to all a goodnight.”


End file.
